Spectre of the Slopes
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: COMPLETED WITH CHAPTERS 19 AND 20! PLEASE READ AND LEAVE A NICE REVIEW! : The YuGiOh! gang heads off to the snowy Rocky Mountains for a muchneeded vacation, but they stumble headon right into a twisted plot! This is so NOT yaoi, hehe!
1. The Arrival

Yu-Gi-Oh!  
Spector of the Slopes  
By Lucky_Ladybug  
  
  
Notes: The characters aren't mine! Just the story idea ^^ Oh, Deer Valley isn't mine either, incidentally ;) LOL! I've always wanted to send some of my favorite characters on a good mystery, so I decided to send the Yu-Gi-Oh! cast to my home state! ^^ Hope y'all like!  
  
  
"Wow! Are those the Rocky Mountains down there?" Tea looked out the airplane window excitedly.  
  
"There's so many of 'em," Joey said in awe.  
  
"That sure was nice of your grandpa's friend Carl to invite us all to his ski resort," Tristan said to Yugi, who smiled and nodded.  
  
"Grandpa said he was too old for such antics, but that he thought it'd be fun for us," the multi-colored hair boy said.  
  
"I've never been skiing before, but it sounds fun," the soft-spoken Bakura commented.  
  
"There's nothin' to it!" Joey told him airily. "I'll be more than happy to teach you everything I know about it, Bakura."  
  
"That isn't much," Tristan said with a grin. "You'd better get a professional instructor, Bakura."  
  
"Heyyy . . ." Joey protested.  
  
Yugi laughed. "We'd all better, including you, Joey."  
****  
"Hey look! Is that Carl over there?"  
  
Everyone turned to look where Tea was pointing. A friendly-looking older man was observing the people milling around the baggage claim, periodically checking his watch.  
  
"That's him, alright!" Yugi said excitedly. "You know, he doesn't even look that much different than the last time I saw him, and that must've been at least five years ago.  
  
"Carl!" he called, waving. "Over here!"  
  
"Yugi!" The man's eyes lighted up, but had Yugi detected a note of worry in them? "How are you and your grandpa doing these days?"  
  
"Just great, Carl," Yugi replied as they made their way over to him. "How are you and Betty?"  
  
"Oh, just fine and dandy as always." There was a slight hesitation before his reply and Yugi started to wonder if something was wrong. "And how are you, Tea?" Carl asked the girl of the group.  
  
"I'm great, Carl," she said. "It's good to see you again!"  
  
"Still the same lovely young lady," Carl grinned. He turned to the others. "And who are you fine young men?"  
  
"Joey Wheeler, ready for some serious skiing," the Brooklyn-born boy introduced himself grandly.  
  
"Tristan Taylor, on hand to keep Joey in line," Tristan said mischievously. Joey responded by throwing a mock punch.  
  
"And I'm Bakura," the shy, quiet boy finished.  
  
"Ahh . . . I see you've made some new friends, Yugi," Carl smiled. "I'll enjoy getting to know them. Do you all have your luggage?"  
  
Yugi nodded. "Yes, we do, Carl."  
  
"Well then, come on out and load it up in the van, and we'll be off," Carl said, then paused. "But first you'd all better put your coats on. Utah winters are very cold!" he warned.  
  
"Sounds good to me," Joey remarked mischievously. "After all, if there wasn't any cold weather, there wouldn't be any snow—or skiing!"  
  
Carl chuckled. "You do have a point there."  
  
"Joey's been especially excited about this trip," Tristan said as they crowded into the van and drove off. "He's done nothing but talk about snow and skiing ever since Yugi told us about it!"  
  
"Skiing's a wonderful sport," Carl said, sounding a bit distracted.  
  
"Is something wrong, Carl?" Yugi asked, concerned.  
  
Carl sighed. "I'll be honest with you and your friends, Yugi. For the last couple of days, we've been having strange . . . accidents," he said finally.  
  
"Accidents?" everyone repeated at once.  
  
"Like, what kinds of accidents?" Joey wondered.  
  
"Well, it started yesterday when the ski lift suddenly stopped working," Carl said, "trapping everyone many feet above the ground. The operator couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, unless someone had turned it off while he was getting a snack. But no one was seen anywhere near the control booth!"  
  
"It sounds like a mechanical problem to me," Joey remarked.  
  
"That's what we all thought too, only we couldn't find anything wrong with the controls at all," Carl sighed.  
  
"Maybe it was a mean prank," Tea suggested.  
  
"Well, if it was, they were certainly determined to scare the guests," Carl said grimly as he drove along the highway leading into the canyons. "That evening, a snowmobile went wild and chased Miss North all over the grounds, and later a rock was thrown through Mr. Bridges' window!"  
  
Everyone gasped. "That's awful!" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
"So I'm really not sure if it's safe for you kids to be here," Carl concluded. "I tried several times to call your grandpa to tell him, Yugi, but I never could reach him."  
  
"Our phone's been acting up," Yugi admitted.  
  
"If you'd all rather go somewhere else for your vacation, I'd understand completely," Carl said. "Deer Valley is very nice this time of year. . . ."  
  
"Go somewhere else? No way, Jose," Joey interrupted. "We're not letting a few runaway snowmobiles and independently-minded ski lifts get in our way, right, guys?"  
  
"I'm with you," Tristan agreed.  
  
"Maybe we could help find out who's behind all this," Bakura suggested.  
  
"I was just about to say that myself," Yugi grinned.  
  
"Well, Carl, looks like we're all staying," Tea said grandly.  
  
Carl laughed. "And I'll be more than happy to have you all here." He sobered. "But if anyone gets hurt, I'll never forgive myself."  
  
"Hey, if anyone tries anything, they'll wish they never had, especially with the rough, tough Joey Wheeler around to give them a sound thrashing! Hi-YA!" Joey swung out in a fierce karate chop and Tristan ducked just in time to avoid it.  
  
"Watch it!" he snapped. "Deck them, not me!"  
  
"Whoops . . . sorry, Tristan," Joey said sheepishly while everyone laughed.  
  
"Wow! Just look at this canyon!" Tea exclaimed abruptly. "It's gorgeous!"  
  
Trees lined the road on either side, climbing up and up. Snow glistened from every branch, making for a perfect Currier and Ives picture.  
  
"Whoa! This place is incredible!" Tristan declared.  
  
"It's even better than I remember from my last visit!" Yugi said.  
  
Carl smiled, pleased at their reactions. "The Ogden canyon is spectacular," he agreed. "Everyone has to pass through it to get to the ski resort. This canyon gives me a lot of repeat guests."  
  
"I can see why," Yugi said. "This place is fascinating!"  
  
Before long, they were driving up another canyon road, taking them deeper into the canyon. "How much farther is it?" Joey wondered.  
  
"We're almost there now," Carl replied.  
  
Sure enough, soon they passed through the wrought-iron gate that led into the resort Carl ran with his wife Betty. Joey watched the skiers riding up in the ski lift overhead. "Where are they going?"  
  
"I believe they're heading for the Daredevil slope," Carl said.  
  
"Hey, that sounds like my kind of mountain," Joey grinned.  
  
"It takes a lot of skill to ski the expert slopes, Joey," Yugi said, "and I think we all could use some more practice and training before we reach that stage."  
  
"Ah, nuts," Joey grumbled. Then, "Well, no matter. I'm a fast learner."  
  
"There's one thing you can do without learning how," Tristan smirked. "Get into trouble."  
  
"Heeeyyy . . .!!"  
  
"Alright, you two, stop your bickering," Carl scolded gently. "We're here." He parked the van next to an old-fashioned looking building.  
  
"Wow! How old is this place?" Tristan said, gaping at the manor, which looked as if it had five floors at least.  
  
"It looks as though it's from the 19-century," Bakura, who'd been mostly silent on the trip, commented.  
  
"You, young man, are correct," Carl grinned as they walked up the sidewalk leading to the porch. "It was built by my grandfather in the 1860s. It's been a ski resort now for fifty years," he said proudly.  
  
"Whoa, that's a long time," Joey said, just as something zipped by overhead. "What's that??!"  
  
"A ski pole!" Carl gasped, picking it up from where it had landed harmlessly in the snow next to Yugi.  
  
"Someone was throwing it!" Yugi realized. 


	2. The Guests

"Throwing it?" Tea gasped. "They could've hurt somebody! Who would do such a thing?"  
  
"Maybe that jerk over there?" Joey pointed to a shadowy figure hiding behind some trees.  
  
"Come on, after him!" Tristan yelled.  
  
The five teenagers took off after the silhouette, leaving Carl in the safety of the roofed porch.  
  
"He's going that way!" Tea called as the figure disappeared into a thick cluster of pines.  
  
"Oh man, we lost him," Joey grumbled when they caught up. There was no sign of the figure anywhere. After several more minutes of fruitless searching, there was nothing to do but turn around and go back.  
  
Carl looked relieved to see them. "I shouldn't have let you kids go off like that," he said.  
  
"Hey, we've dealt with much worse things than that," Joey replied. He was about to elaborate until Tristan jabbed him in the ribs.  
  
"No sense scaring him, Joey," the other boy said in an undertone.  
  
"Well, let's all go inside," Carl suggested, and the teens were only too happy to agree.  
  
"Hey, this is my kinda place," Joey commented, looking around at the soft plush chairs and roaring fire. "Maybe we can play a few games of Duel Monsters with the other guests," he remarked, spotting several card tables set up in the den.  
  
A smiling woman around Carl's age was at the front desk. "Well, hello, Carl! And who have you brought back today?"  
  
"Betty, you remember Yugi, of course," Carl began grandly.  
  
"Of course." She smiled. "And these other young people must be the friends you mentioned, Yugi."  
  
"That's right," Yugi replied. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves, guys."  
  
After introductions were made, Carl and Betty suggested that Yugi and the others get unpacked and rest a bit, and then come down to dinner and meet the other guests. They all agreed, and Betty took them all upstairs. Tea had her own room of course, while Joey and Tristan shared one, and Yugi and Bakura shared another.  
  
"Dinner's at seven," Betty told them. "I'll be downstairs at the front desk if you need me."  
  
They thanked her and went into their various rooms, realizing curiously that Carl had never made any mention about the ski pole thrower to Betty.  
  
"This should be a fun three weeks. Right, Bakura?" Yugi said, trying to get the quiet boy to talk.  
  
Bakura nodded and smiled. "I'm looking forward to it," he agreed. "I only hope. . . ." He trailed off.  
  
"You only hope what, Bakura?" Yugi asked, concerned.  
  
Bakura sighed. "That my Yami doesn't get out and cause trouble, or do something embarrassing." He and Yugi both remembered the last time Yami Bakura had made an appearance. It had been at a fancy restaurant, and Yami Bakura had ordered a steak, which he had dived into and eaten extremely sloppily and messily, making a spectacle out of their table. Then he had started to cackle about the Millennium Puzzle becoming his one day.  
  
Yugi smiled. "Don't worry, Bakura. I'm sure everything will be just fine."  
  
"I hope so, Yugi," Bakura said softly. "I hope so."  
****  
After showers and short naps, Yugi and the others felt refreshed and ready to meet the other guests, so they went down into the den, where there was now lots of activity.  
  
Carl introduced them to William and Jennifer Cobbs, a married couple with two children who took an instant liking to the newcomers, and also to Owen Bridges, a grumpy old man who seemed to like to keep to himself.  
  
"I wonder if Seto Kaiba will be like that guy when he's older," Joey chuckled.  
  
"Well, hello there."  
  
Everyone looked up at the new voice. Standing next to Joey was an attractive woman in her early twenties, whom no one had seen arrive.  
  
"You must be Joseph Wheeler," the woman went on. "I've heard of you."  
  
Everyone turned to look at Joey, who had a weird expression on his face.  
  
Carl laughed. "This is Lisa North, a reporter from San Francisco. She had the misfortune of being chased by the runaway snowmobile last night."  
  
"Is that so?" Joey snapped out of his trance and took Lisa's hand. "Well, no one will sic their snowmobiles on you while Joey Wheeler's around!"  
  
Tristan smirked while Tea tried not to crack up and Yugi and Bakura just stood there, enjoying this new development. "I do believe Joey's in love," the brown-haired boy whispered.  
  
"Are these all the guests here?" Tea asked Carl curiously.  
  
"No, actually, there's a few more," he replied. "They're in town, but they should be back after dinner, which, incidently, it's time for now," he realized.  
****  
"Now that was a meal!" Joey said contentedly. He and the others were back in the den after a satisfying dinner of mashed potatoes and chicken.  
  
"You sure are a good cook, Betty," Yugi complimented.  
  
Betty smiled. "Why, thank you, Yugi. I'm glad you all enjoyed it."  
  
At that moment, the door was flung open and a woman adorned in jewelry and wearing far too much perfume stormed in, her hazel eyes flashing angrily. "I won't stay another minute in this horrible place!" she declared.  
  
"Why, Ms. Birch, whatever is the matter?" Carl demanded.  
  
"I was stranded on the ski lift for hours!" Ms. Birch fumed. "I screamed and screamed for help but no one came to rescue me! Finally that young ski instructor came and fixed the problem. He's the only competent person in this entire setup! I am leaving this instant!"  
  
With that she disappeared into a room upstairs, slamming the door loudly.  
  
"Whoa, who was that hothead?" Joey asked.  
  
Carl sighed. "Vanessa Birch, a local socialite. She's been complaining about our resort since the moment she arrived."  
  
"Frankly," Betty added with a smile, "I can't say I'm sorry to see her go."  
  
Everyone laughed, but Yugi wondered if they were all thinking the same thing he was—that this had been the fifth "accident" in two days, and the second time someone had been stranded on the ski lift.  
  
They then met some more friendly people, including the ski instructors Rocco and DeeDee, and Percival von Bruno, an eccentric guest and a business man. Joey then discovered that Lisa North shared his interest in Duel Monsters and they played a game, which Lisa won.   
  
That was when Yugi and his friends decided to call it a night.  
  
As they headed out of the den and into the front hall, Joey, who didn't seem terribly upset by his defeat, walked forward and right into someone coming around the corner, sending them both to the floor.  
  
"See, Joey, that's what happens when you walk around with your head in the clouds," Tristan remarked.  
  
Joey groaned at the comment. "Hey, I'm sorry about that, man," he said to the other person on the floor. "Are you okay?"  
  
The other person sat up, and he and Joey exchanged shocked looks.  
  
"Kaiba!" Joey gasped.  
  
"Wheeler!" Kaiba declared.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" they both demanded in unison.  
  
"We're here for the slopes! The snow! Lisa North!" Joey said grandly.  
  
"You're here for Lisa North," Tristan returned, "and a few hours ago you didn't even know she existed!"  
  
Joey shrugged. "Hey, a lot can happen in a few hours." He looked at the blue-eyed boy curiously. "I guess it's too much to assume that you're here for the skiing?"  
  
Seto Kaiba stood up, dusting himself off. Joey then did the same. "No, I'm here to discuss a business deal."  
  
"I thought so." Joey grinned. "It's always all work and no play with you, Kaiba. Don't you ever wanna sit back and relax?"  
  
"I don't have time to sit back and relax," Seto said with a dry smirk. "Mokuba can relax for the both of us."  
  
"Mokuba?" Tea repeated. "He's here too?"  
  
Seto nodded. "He's hanging out with the other kids here."  
  
"Well, it's good to see you, Kaiba," Yugi said. "Maybe we'll meet up again while we're all here."  
  
"I don't doubt it." Seto turned to head upstairs.  
  
"Just watch out for haunted, maniacal snowmobiles," Joey joked.  
  
"I'll remember that," Seto said dryly, vanishing into one of the upstairs rooms.  
  
"Well, that was an unexpected twist," Tea commented. "I never thought we'd find Kaiba here."  
  
"Yeah," Joey agreed. "Now the only one missing is Malik."  
  
"Please," Tristan groaned, "no powers of suggestion!"  
****  
Late that night, Joey was started out of a dream about Lisa by a weird creaking sound. "Hey, Tristan!" he called to the boy in the other bed, "do you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?" Tristan grumbled, not happy at being disturbed.  
  
"That creaking sound," Joey replied. "It sounds like it's coming from inside the wall!"  
  
"Inside the wall? Maybe it's a family of mice," Tristan suggested, still half-asleep.  
  
"Hey, I said creaking, not scratching or chawing, wise guy," Joey muttered. "Hey, now it's stopped!"  
  
"Maybe it was never there. Go back to sleep, Joey." Tristan rolled over, engulfing himself with his pillow. Joey laid back down with a sigh, feeling annoyed and confused. 


	3. The Spectre Appears

The next morning the five friends gathered in the den to decide what they would do.  
  
"I wanna get right to the slopes," Joey announced, to no one's surprise.  
  
"Me too," Tea agreed. "It's been a long time since I've skied and I'm anxious to try it again. I hope I haven't forgotten what I learned years ago," she laughed.  
  
In the end, they all decided to go skiing shortly after breakfast, tho no one could talk Joey out of signing up with the intermediate class instead of the beginner's one, like the rest of them had.  
  
"Hey, it's a snap," Joey said airily. "Nothin' to it!"  
  
"Oh boy," Tristan sighed, "here we go again."  
  
"Joey, I don't think that's such a good idea," Yugi warned. "You're not that knowledgeable about this sport."  
  
"You might get hurt," Tea added.  
  
"Hey, relax, guys. I'll be fine. Joey Wheeler is in control!" He headed off to the breakfast table and Lisa North.  
  
"There's the real reason he signed up for the intermediate class," Tristan sighed, and everyone agreed.  
  
"When Joey gets like this, there's no way to change his mind," Bakura spoke up.  
  
"That's for sure," Tea said.  
  
Just then a familiar young boy of about ten bounded in. "Hi, you guys! Seto told me you were here."  
  
"Hi Mokuba," Yugi and the others returned the greeting.  
  
"What're you guys gonna do today?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Well, after breakfast, we're planning to go skiing," Yugi replied.  
  
"Neat! I'm going to hang out with the other kids here, and then Seto's taking me to the city with him!"  
  
"That sounds fun," Tea commented.  
  
"Where is your brother anyway, Mokuba?" Yugi asked curiously. "We haven't seen him since late last night."  
  
"When Joey crashed into him," Tristan added.  
  
Mokuba paused. "I'm actually not sure. He was looking for the guy he's doing business with. They were supposed to talk over breakfast or something, but the guy never showed up."  
  
"That's odd," Tea remarked. "Where would he have gone, and why?"  
  
"That's what Seto is trying to find out," Mokuba said. "Frankly, I think the guy's kinda weird. I don't know if Seto should trust him."  
  
"Weird?" Tristan repeated. "He did seem pretty eccentric, but I don't know if I'd say he wasn't trustworthy."  
  
Mokuba sighed. "Well, he seemed more than just an eccentric to me."  
  
"Ahh, well, I'm sure it's nothing Kaiba can't handle," Joey grinned, appearing suddenly from the dining room.  
  
"Hey, do you guys want to come skiing with us?" Mokuba asked suddenly.  
  
"Thanks for the offer, Mokuba," Joey said, "but, uh, Lisa and I already have other plans."  
  
"But the rest of us will take you up on that offer," Yugi added with a smile.  
  
"Alright! This'll be fun!" Mokuba exclaimed. "I'll go find the others!" He hurried off.  
  
"Now that kid has a lot of energy," Joey commented.  
  
"So, Joey," Tristan said mischievously, "what are these big 'other plans' you've got?"  
  
"Lisa's doing an article on the ski resort and, uh, I'm gonna kinda follow her around while she inspects the intermediate ski class," Joey replied with a shrug, grabbing an apple from a nearby basket.  
  
"That's wax, Joey," Yugi informed him.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah." Joey quickly dropped the apple back into its place. "Well, I've gotta go. Have fun, you guys!"  
  
"Bye, Joey!" Yugi called as the other boy disappeared out the door.  
  
Tristan cracked up. "Joey's got it bad."  
****  
"Wow. This mountain looks more daring from up here than it did down there," Tea commented. The slope was adorned in pine trees, large rocks, and snow banks.  
  
"It might be easier to navigate than it looks," Yugi said. "I think I tried this slope when I was here the last time. At any rate, it's a lot easier than the Daredevil Slope," he laughed.  
  
"What's that funny-looking thing?" Trevor, one of the two Cobbs kids yelled, pointing at an odd form on top of a jagged rock.  
  
"How can it even stand up there without being cut?" Bakura wondered.  
  
"Maybe it's not alive," Tristan suggested.  
  
"No, Tristan, it's moving and yelling," Yugi replied. "Unfortunately, it's yelling in another language. I can't understand a word!"  
  
"It sounds like French," Tea remarked. "I think it's saying 'I will have my revenge'!"  
  
"'Revenge'?" everyone repeated.  
  
"What's going on here?" Carl demanded, suddenly running up to the group. "What's that?"  
  
"That thing up there's yelling in French about revenge," Tristan replied. "At least according to Tea it is."  
  
"What! Who would be playing this trick?" Carl said hotly.  
  
Suddenly the voice changed to English. "Ah, don't tell me you have forgotten the old legends. This is no trick! Carl Swanson, I'm back to claim what is rightfully mine, and nothing will stop me! I have nothing to lose this time, for I am not of this world anymore!" And with a hideous cackle, it was gone, leaving a drift of snow and many confused people in its wake.  
  
"What *was* that?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"It certainly wasn't friendly," Tea remarked.  
  
"It was just someone's idea of a prank," Carl called to the skiers gathered around. "Nothing to worry about. Get back to your skiing, folks."  
  
"Carl, what was it talking about?" Yugi asked. "It mentioned something about 'the legends.'"  
  
Carl sighed. "Oh, just a bunch of nonsense. I'll tell you later, Yugi, if you really want to know." He turned away. "Now I need to go chop some firewood for later."  
  
"What are we going to do?" Tea wondered.  
  
"Well, I'm going to take Carl's advice and not worry about it," Tristan said. "I came here to ski, not to fall for some nutty prank."  
  
"What do you think about it, Yugi?" Tea asked.  
  
Yugi sighed. "I'm not sure what to think, Tea. What I'd like to know is, where did it go? Why don't we ski over to where it was standing and see if we can find any clues?"  
  
"Sounds good to me," Mokuba spoke up.  
  
When the others agreed as well, Yugi led the way down the slope to the jagged rock. "This is odd," he commented.  
  
"What is it?" Tea came over for a better look.  
  
"Nothing," Yugi replied.  
  
"Then what's so odd about it?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"That's what is odd about it," Bakura said, catching on. "There is nothing to see, when there should be some footprints or ski tracks or some kind of indication that something was here."  
  
"That's right," Yugi confirmed.  
  
"You mean it's almost as if . . ." Tristan began.  
  
Yugi nodded. "Almost as if there really was a phantom here."  
  
"No way!" Tristan muttered.  
  
"A real phantom?" Cindy, the Cobb girl, spoke up.  
  
"Cool!" Trevor breathed.  
  
"Well, I don't know if it's that cool or not," Yugi said with a chuckle. "He didn't seem very sociable. We need to find out what it wanted."  
  
"Alright!" Trevor agreed instantly.  
  
"This could be dangerous," Yugi warned. "I really don't think you two should get involved."  
  
"Awww . . . nuts," Trevor sighed.  
  
"Your parents would be very upset if you got into some kind of trouble," Tea added.  
  
"They're right," Cindy said. "Come on, Trevor, let's go ski some more!"  
  
"Yeah, okay," Trevor agreed, grabbing his ski poles. "Are you coming, Mokuba?"  
  
"I think I'll stay here," Mokuba replied.  
  
Yugi and the others watched as the Cobb kids disappeared on down the mountain. "Why do I have the feeling that they're not going to take no for an answer?" Yugi said with a wry smile.  
  
"I have that same feeling," Tea remarked.  
  
"Kids that age just can't resist the thought of a mystery," Tristan declared.  
  
"Including me," Mokuba spoke up. "I want to find out what happened here!"  
  
"Here we go again," Tristan sighed.  
  
"Mokuba, I'm serious," Yugi told the young boy, "this could get very dangerous. There have been several strange 'accidents' here the last few days. We need to find out what's happening before someone gets hurt. I don't want to put you in any danger . . ."  
  
"I don't want anyone to get hurt either," Mokuba interrupted, "including my brother! The more people working on this case, the sooner we can crack it! Please let me help, Yugi," he pleaded. "I'll be careful!"  
  
Before Yugi could reply, a scream suddenly tore through the air.  
  
"What was that?" Bakura gasped.  
  
"Someone come quick!" a new voice yelled. "She's falling over the edge!" 


	4. Over the Edge!

"Falling over the edge!" Yugi exclaimed. Quickly he and the others abandoned the jagged rock and made their way over to where the scream had come from. A large group of people were gathered around a cliff. "What's happened here?" the violet-eyed boy demanded.  
  
"It's DeeDee," a man Yugi didn't know informed them. "She was teaching her class and demonstrating a certain tecnique when her skis broke and sent her flying over the edge!"  
  
"That's horrible!" Tea gasped.  
  
"She's hanging on to a tiny ledge, but we have to get her up immediately!" the man continued seriously.  
  
"Has 911 been called?" Bakura asked.  
  
"Yes, and they're on their way, but I don't know if DeeDee can hold out much longer," the man replied grimly.  
  
Quickly Yugi tuned in to his Millenium Puzzle and summoned his Yami. "Bring me that rope over there," he directed, pointing to a rope tied between two trees. Two people he didn't recognize untied the rope and brought it over. "Alright. Now . . ." Yugi leaned over the edge, inspecting the situation. "There's no way DeeDee can get back up without someone's assistance. Tie one end of the rope around this tree here . . ." He indicated a nearby spruce. ". . . and lower me down," he finished.  
  
"I don't know about this," the nameless man said doubtfully.  
  
"Do you have a better idea?" Yugi returned. The man sighed and shook his head.  
  
"Yugi, be careful!" Tea called uneasily.  
  
"Don't worry, Tea," Yugi returned with a smile. "Everything will be fine." He tied the other end of the rope around his waist and held on tight as he disappeared over the side. "DeeDee!" he called, seeing the frightened young woman clutching frantically to a tiny niche, and losing her grip fast, "I'm here to help you." He felt slightly dizzy and tried not to look down at the deep canyon below them.   
  
**Be strong, Yugi,** his Yami told him. **We can do this.**  
  
~That's right, we will!~ Yugi agreed, gathering his courage. If he was nervous, how much more nervous must poor DeeDee be? Aloud he called, "Get ready to pull us up!" Grabbing onto the stone wall, he cautiously moved closer to DeeDee, suddenly snatching her into his arms and away from her precarious position. Instantly she reached out and took hold of the rope, giving Yugi a smile of immense relief and gratitude.  
  
"Thank you," she said softly. "I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold on much longer."  
  
Yugi smiled at her in reply and tugged gently on the rope. "I've got her! Pull us up!" he ordered.  
  
Soon they were back on the snowy ground, much to everyone's relief.  
  
"That was terrific!" the nameless man proclaimed. "Are you alright, DeeDee?"  
  
"I am now, thanks to Yugi," the blonde-haired woman replied.  
  
"You were great, Yugi!" Tea beamed.  
  
Yugi, feeling his Yami disappear back into the Millennium Puzzle, blushed. "Well, I had to do something."  
  
"What made your skis break, I wonder," the man mused, speaking to DeeDee.  
  
"I can't imagine. They should've been just as strong and secure as anyone's," DeeDee replied with a confused shrug. She bent down to remove what was left of her skis and examine them.  
  
"Oh my goodness!" Bakura gasped. "Look!"   
  
Both of DeeDee's skis had broken right on either side of the foot straps in thin, straight lines.  
  
"These skis were practically new!" DeeDee murmured. "This shouldn't have happened at all!"  
  
"Unless . . ." Bakura paused, looking worried.  
  
"Unless it was done on purpose," Yugi realized grimly.  
  
"Oh no! Not another so-called 'accident,'" Tea moaned.  
  
"This one could've had some very tragic results," Bakura pronounced.  
  
"Yeah," Tristan agreed. "Being stuck on a ski lift would be an inconvenience, but probably not especially dangerous, like this most certainly was."  
  
"Most of the 'accidents' around here have been dangerous," Bakura said grimly.  
  
"Which is why it would be better if Mokuba didn't get involved," Yugi added. "I'm sure your brother wouldn't want you to, either, Mokuba," he said to the young boy.  
  
"You're probably right, Yugi," Mokuba sighed, "but I want to help somehow."  
  
"What's going on here?" a familiar voice demanded.  
  
"Big brother! Hi!" Mokuba leaped into Seto's arms excitedly. "Did you ever find von Bruno?"  
  
"No, I didn't, actually," Seto replied, returning the embrace. "But what's been happening here?" he demanded again.  
  
"Someone sabotaged DeeDee's skis and made her go over the edge of this cliff," Mokuba reported.  
  
"But then Yugi rescued me," DeeDee added.  
  
Seto's eyes narrowed angrily. "Someone is going to get hurt one of these days," he muttered. "How can this place even be staying open with these kinds of everyday happenings?"  
  
"You've got the right idea, young man," Owen Bridges' unmistakably grumpy voice boomed out. "The board of health should shut this junkyard down, at least until whoever's doing this is caught."  
  
"Junkyard!" everyone else said indignantly.  
  
"This is a very beautiful place," Tea cried. "We are going to find out who's behind this and bring them to justice!"  
  
"A bunch of kids doing work that even professionals can't always get done? Give me a break," Mr. Bridges grumbled. "Go on back to your homes before you get hurt."  
  
Then Seto laughed. "Don't let their age fool you. They've dealt with things worse than this before and come out on top."  
  
Mr. Bridges squinted at him. "You know them?"  
  
"For quite a while now," Seto replied.  
  
The old man sighed, shaking his head. "Kids chasing down criminals and running their own companies. . . . What's next? I suppose some foolhardy high-school student will decide to run for office."  
  
Joey, coming up behind him and hearing the last remark, cracked up. "Hey, sure, maybe I should give that a try," he grinned teasingly, winking at Yugi. "President Wheeler! Has a nice ring to it."  
  
Yugi chuckled while Mr. Bridges threw his hands up in disgust and stalked off, muttering to himself again.  
  
"Well, President Wheeler," Tristan smirked, "how did things go with Lisa?"  
  
Joey sighed. "Well, everything was just going good until her boss called and wanted her to do a piece on a crime in the city."  
  
"What kind of crime?" Yugi asked curiously.  
  
"I dunno," Joey shrugged. "Something about some old piece of paper or something."  
  
"That sounds strange," Tea remarked. "Maybe we should go see if we can catch the story on the news."  
  
"Be my guests," Seto replied with a shrug. "And if you see von Bruno, tell him I'm looking for him." With that he turned and walked away, Mokuba in tow.  
  
"I'll see you guys later!" the younger Kaiba called to Yugi and the others.  
  
"Goodbye, Mokuba!" Yugi returned, waving. "You had a good idea, Tea," he said, turning back to her and the others. "Let's go see if we can find anything out on the news!"  
****  
"So now, what was stolen again?" Joey said, scratching his head. "It just sounded too ridiculous to really be true."  
  
"It really doesn't make much sense," Tea agreed.  
  
"Somebody busted into someone's house and stole a whole bunch of letters," Tristan remarked, shaking his head. "Just the letters. They didn't even touch the expensive jewelry or electronics."  
  
"There must have been something very important in those letters," Bakura stated.  
  
"What're you kids babbling about?" Mr. Bridges asked grumpily.  
  
"We're just talking about that strange theft," Yugi replied.  
  
"Bunch of nonsense," the old man grunted, taking a newspaper off the coffee table and opening it up.  
  
"Hey, wasn't Carl gonna tell us more about that weird phantom we saw?" Tristan said suddenly.  
  
"That's right!" Yugi exclaimed. "With all the other excitement, I completely forgot!"  
  
"Oh yeah, I heard about that phantom thing," Joey said. "The Cobbs kids came up to me and Lisa and were talking about it. That was some crazy trick that guy pulled!"  
  
At that moment, Carl came out from one of the storage rooms. "Well, everyone, I'm sorry your first full day here hasn't been exactly pleasant," he sighed.  
  
"Oh, that's alright, Carl," Yugi replied.  
  
"We want to help you solve this mystery," Tea added.  
  
Carl smiled. "And I'll be honored to have your help. Yugi, I heard about how you saved DeeDee today. That was a brilliant piece of thinking! And you stayed calm during the crisis. That's something some people can't always do."  
  
"Yeah, Yugi here is the best," Joey grinned, clapping his friend on the shoulder.  
  
Yugi smiled a little embarrassed-like and proceeded to change the subject. "So, Carl, we were wondering about those legends that phantom mentioned earlier."  
  
"Ah yes! The legends," Carl mused. "Well, just come along all of you to the library and we'll see what we can find there." 


	5. The Legends

"Wow! This is some library!" Tristan marveled.  
  
"We don't have anything like this back home," Tea added.  
  
"And certainly not *in* our homes," Yugi said, staring in awe at the shelves and shelves of books lining every wall from top to bottom.  
  
Carl smiled, pleased. "Some of these books are very old, some even being first editions that my grandfather bought 150 years ago."  
  
"I bet some of them would really rake in the dough," Joey remarked.  
  
"Probably so, but I don't want to part with any of them," Carl replied. "They all have special memories attached to them."  
  
"That sounds like what my grandpa would say," Yugi grinned.  
  
"So anyway, about those legends?" Joey said somewhat impatiently.  
  
"Ah yes. Well, first, let me show you this." Carl took a hardbound, musty-smelling book off the shelf and placed it on the table, opened to a page somewhere near the middle. "This is Pierre LeBlanc."  
  
Everyone gathered around to look at the old-fashioned photo of a stern-looking man with a dark mustache and wearing a business suit and top hat.  
  
"In the late 1860s, Pierre LeBlanc owned a fair share of property, including the land this resort is built on," Carl began. "My grandfather, who was a carpenter, built this manor for him. LeBlanc never married and he didn't have any known relatives, so when he died, the manor was auctioned off."  
  
"Where does the legend come in?" Joey asked.  
  
"I was just coming to that," Carl smiled. "It's all nonsense in my opinion, but some people have claimed to have seen LeBlanc's ghost. It rants and raves in LeBlanc's native French tongue and then switches to English, talking about reclaiming what was rightfully his."  
  
The teens looked at each other and back to Carl. "I heard the ghost today speaking of revenge," Tea said. "What would this LeBlanc want revenge about?"  
  
"Ah, now here's where it gets very interesting," Carl replied. "There are those who were friends of LeBlanc's who said that before his death, he always talked of donating his manor to be used as a museum. They claim that LeBlanc wouldn't have wanted his manor just auctioned off like it was."  
  
"Who bought the manor?" Yugi asked.  
  
"A very rich and very ruthless business man by the name of Royce Flemming," Carl stated. "Flemming was very insistent on being the one to walk away owning it, continually outbidding everyone else in order to do so."  
  
"Why did he want it so bad?" Joey asked.  
  
"Now that's yet another part of the mystery," Carl replied. "No one knows for certain, but there are rumors that LeBlanc had hidden some kind of treasure somewhere on the estate."  
  
"Now that is one juicy tale," Joey commented, "but I don't know if I buy that ghost stuff."  
  
"It is confusing," Carl agreed. "I don't know why someone would choose to revive the old legends now, but it's very exasperating!" He sighed. "Well, it's getting late. You kids can stay here and look around some more if you like, but I think I'll be turning in now."  
  
"I think we'll stay here a little while longer," Yugi said, and the others nodded in agreement. "Oh, by the way, Carl, when did you get the manor?"  
  
"My father bought it around the turn of the century," Carl replied. "He had been trying to buy it for years because his father had built it."  
  
"Well, that's cool," Joey commented.  
  
Carl went to the door and turned the knob. When the door opened, everyone gasped at the sight of a familiar person kneeling in the hall directly outside.  
  
"Percival von Bruno!" Joey declared.  
  
Percival von Bruno hastily stood, looking nervous as his gaze darted here, there, and everywhere.  
  
"Hear anything interesting, Mr. von Bruno?" Carl said with a smile, tho Yugi could tell the older man was actually harboring a few suspicions.  
  
"Oh, uh, no. Nothing at all," the eccentric businessman replied, fingering the chain of his pocket watch anxiously. "I was, uh, just looking for a contact. Toodleloo!" And with that, he turned to flee down the hall.  
  
"Mr. von Bruno!" Yugi called, making the man pause. "Seto Kaiba has been looking for you."  
  
"Kaiba, Kaiba," von Bruno mused. "Oh yes. That young boy who runs the Kaiba Corporation. Don't worry, I'll find him." Quickly he broke into a run, disappearing into the old dumbwaiter.  
  
Carl chuckled unconvincingly. "Now he's an odd one, that's for sure."  
  
"Dontcha kinda wonder where he's been all day?" Joey remarked.  
  
"Now, now, Joey, I don't like to accuse anyone without concrete evidence," Carl sighed, "tho I must admit, I *do* wonder about him. Goodnight now, kids, and be careful!"  
  
After Carl left, Yugi and the others continued to puzzle over the case.  
  
"You do realize," Bakura said, "that in a case like this, everyone's a suspect."  
  
"Except Lisa," Joey put in.  
  
"Even Lisa, Joey," Tristan replied.  
  
"No way! What motive would she have?" Joey demanded.  
  
"What motive would any of them have?" Tea returned.  
  
"That's what we have to find out," Yugi said resolutely.  
  
"Let's make a list of everyone here," Tea suggested, pulling out a pen and paper.  
  
"Good idea," Bakura said. "Okay, there's Rocco and DeeDee, the ski instructors."  
  
"And the grumpy Owen Bridges," Tristan added.  
  
"And the Cobbs family," Yugi put in. "Tho I hate to think of it being one of them."  
  
"Let's not forget von Bruno," Bakura remarked.  
  
"And Lisa North," Tristan said, much to Joey's dismay.  
  
"Well then, let's not forget Kaiba," Joey retorted mischievously.  
  
"Joey!" Yugi scolded. "Kaiba wouldn't do things like this!"  
  
"Hey, you said everyone," Joey shrugged.  
  
"We might as well put ourselves on the list if you're going to include Kaiba," Tea remarked while Joey laughed.  
  
"What about that dude who informed us that DeeDee was falling over the cliff?" Tristan suggested.  
  
"That's right! We should've found out who he was," Yugi sighed.  
  
"Well, until we do, just put 'nameless dude' or something," Tristan said.  
  
"Alright, I've written everyone down," Tea announced. "Now we need to figure out where everyone was during the odd occurrences."  
  
"Well, Lisa was with me during both of 'em," Joey declared.  
  
"Most everyone was together in a large group both times," Yugi mused, "except von Bruno, whose whereabouts are unknown, and William and Jennifer Cobbs . . ."  
  
". . . Whereabouts also unknown," Joey supplied.  
  
"And we still don't have any motives," Tristan sighed.  
  
"Maybe we'll havta search the guests' rooms, like real detectives do," Joey suggested.  
  
"I kind of hate to do that," Yugi said. "It's such an invasion of privacy. Let's wait on that for a few more days at least."  
  
"Yes, let's," Tea agreed. "First let's try just talking to the other guests and see if they say anything interesting."  
  
On that note, Yugi and the others decided to turn in for the night.  
  
Maybe I should've mentioned the creaking sound I heard last night, Joey thought to himself as he collapsed into bed a half hour later. With all the other excitement, I completely forgot about it.  
  
That's when he heard it again, and he bolted out of bed, startled. "Tristan! Hey, do you hear that creaking sound now?"  
  
"What creaking . . . go to sleep, Joey," Tristan replied, only half-awake himself.  
  
"Alright, well, I heard that sound again and this time I'm going to find out what it is!" Joey declared, marching determinedly over to the wall.  
  
"Have fun," Tristan mumbled.  
  
After a long session of patting the wall down and finding no secret panels of any kind, Joey sighed in disgust, leaning against it. He idly fingered an old painting next to him and was suddenly whirled into a dark tunnel.  
  
"Alright!" he said triumphantly. "Now to see what needs oilin' around here."  
  
He clicked on his flashlight, shining it around. It looked like something out of a haunted house movie, with thick cobwebs and rotting wood everywhere.  
  
"Man, this place is in serious need of maid service," he remarked, turning a corner. "I wonder if someone's been looking for that French guy's rumored treasure in here." That was a good explanation for the creaking noise.  
  
"Aha! Jackpot!" Joey laughed a few minutes later. He shined his flashlight over some loose pieces of wood, obviously pried away on purpose. "Somebody's been looking for something, and they couldn't have gone far!" Determined to discover who had been prowling around, Joey walked on down the tunnel cautiously, suddenly crashing into someone and sending them both to the floor.  
  
Momentarily startled, Joey quickly jumped up and grabbed the other person's wrists, restraining them from making any sudden moves. "I've gotcha now!" he crowed. "Now, tell me what you were doing defacing this property!" 


	6. The Maze

There was a brief silence. Then, "Wheeler, this is the second time you've knocked me down since we both arrived here. I would appreciate it if you'd release me, as I can assure you I won't try to deface you," the voice said wryly.  
  
Now it was Joey's turn to be silent. "Kaiba?" Keeping one hand firmly on his captive's wrists, Joey shined the flashlight right at the other boy's face.  
  
"Watch it, Wheeler. If you blind me, I might sue," Kaiba grumbled, trying to turn away from the bright light.  
  
"Oh. Sorry." Joey set the light aside and loosened his grip on Kaiba's wrists. "But what the heck are you doing in here at one in the morning?"  
  
"I could ask you the same question, Wheeler," Seto replied.  
  
"Somebody's been lookin' for something in here," Joey said. "And they've been keeping me awake with their creaking racket."  
  
"It appears that we're looking for the same person, Wheeler," Seto said. "I can assure you that I have not been demolishing the place."  
  
"Where'd you come from anyway?" Joey asked curiously.  
  
Seto sighed. "If you must know, the other end of this tunnel comes out in my room," he stated. "The noise was irritating me and keeping Mokuba awake."  
  
"Well, whoever was causing it is gone now," Joey remarked. "But how did they get out?"  
  
Seto looked back towards the splintered pieces of wood. "Through that trapdoor in the ceiling," he deduced.  
  
"Huh? Trapdoor in the ceiling?" Joey repeated, directing his flashlight beam upward and spotting a perfectly square opening. "Well, will you look at that! I've gotta tell Yugi and the others about this!"  
  
"Perhaps so, but why don't you wait until morning?" Seto said, raising an eyebrow. "The vandal has already had a head start, and I doubt that anyone here will be able to sleep if you're all tramping overhead."  
  
Joey sighed. "This is probably the only time I'll ever make such a statement, but I think you're right, Kaiba. I'll tell them in the morning." He yawned. "Right now I'm going back to bed."  
  
Before either of them could attempt to go their separate ways, a familiar voice boomed out of nowhere. "Joey? Are you in here?"  
  
"Tristan?" Joey called back. "I thought you were sawing some serious logs."  
  
"I was," he said dryly, "until I woke up and realized you weren't. Then I remembered that you wanted to find out what that noise was, and I thought you might've gotten into some more trouble, so I woke the others and we came to look for you." The other boy came into view, followed by Yugi, Tea, and Bakura.  
  
"Hey, I'm fine, guys," Joey said breezily, "but you'll never believe what's been going on."  
  
"I can believe that," Tristan said dryly. "What's Kaiba doing in here?"  
  
"Just leaving," Seto replied, turning around and going back the way he'd come.  
  
"So what *is* going on, Joey?" Yugi asked curiously.  
  
Quickly Joey filled them in on the details, ending his explanation by showing them the trapdoor.  
  
"Whoa! Someone went up into that thing?" Tristan exclaimed.  
  
"That's the only way they could've gotten out without me or Kaiba seeing them," Joey replied. He grinned mischievously. "I was going to wait until a more reasonable hour, but since you're all here now, shall we go check things out?"  
  
"Well, I'd be inclined to say let's just wait until morning," Tea sighed, "but there's always the possibility that there's some kind of evidence up there right now that might not be there later."  
  
"That's true," Yugi agreed. "Maybe if we're very quiet we won't disturb anyone."  
  
"Alright!" Joey grinned, punching the air with his fist. "Let's crack this case!"  
  
"I'll go first," Yugi said. "Give me a boost up, guys."  
  
They took turns helping each other into the hole and discovered that it wasn't much more than a crawlspace.  
  
"Whoa," Joey said, banging his head on the low ceiling, "there must've been some real short people living here. Eh, no offense, Yugi," he added quickly.  
  
Yugi smiled. "It's okay, Joey. I know you didn't mean anything." He paused. "Let's try to move quietly, guys. We don't want to wake anyone up."  
  
"Or scare them half to death," Joey grinned. "I'm assuming this crawlspace snakes all over the second floor, where most of the guests' rooms are."  
  
After a long time and a long session of twists and turns, the five teens were about to give up in despair.  
  
"There's just one problem," Bakura sighed. "We no longer know how to get back out of here."  
  
"That is a problem," Tea agreed.  
  
"We have no choice but to keep on," Yugi said, "and hope we find another exit soon."  
  
"Hey," Joey said suddenly, "what's this?"  
  
"What's what, Joey?" Tristan asked.  
  
"This." Joey held up a shiny, blue, diamond-shaped object.  
  
"It looks like an earring," Tea remarked.  
  
"Yeah, I know it's an earring," Joey said, sounding strange. "And . . . Lisa has a pair that look just like this one."  
  
"Tough break, Joey," Tristan said.  
  
"Hey! Just 'cause it might be Lisa's earring don't mean that she's the villain!" Joey protested defiantly.  
  
"That is true," Yugi admitted. "It's just circumstantial evidence."  
  
"But it still looks suspicious," Tea put in.  
  
"Maybe you can ask Lisa about her earrings," Yugi suggested.  
  
"And then show her this one and see what her reaction is," Bakura added.  
  
Joey sighed. "Alright. I guess I'll have to."  
  
"Hey, look!" Bakura exclaimed suddenly. "Here's some kind of a door."  
  
"Alright! Maybe we can finally get outta this mouse maze," Joey grinned.  
  
"Let's open it quietly," Yugi said. "We never know what—or who!—will be on the other side. We might give someone quite a scare."  
  
He tried in vain to move the panel, but then even with the others helping him, it remained stubbornly stuck.  
  
"I know what this thing needs," Joey announced. Before anyone could stop him, he karate-chopped the panel, sending it flying.  
  
"What the . . ." a grouchy voice muttered.  
  
Everyone froze. "Well, at least we're free now," Joey shrugged, as they all crowded around to see who they'd disturbed.  
  
"You crazy kids!" Owen Bridges boomed. He was sitting at his desk, frantically trying to conceal something. "You're spying on me!"  
  
"Whoa, whoa," Joey said, waving his hands in protest, "we weren't spying. We just wanted to find a way outta this maze, and there just happens to be one right here over your room."  
  
"That's right," Yugi said. "We're sorry if we startled you, Mr. Bridges."  
  
"Now if we could just go through your door," Joey said, attempting to climb out of the hole in the ceiling.  
  
"No!" Bridges thundered, surprising the five teens.  
  
"We're sorry for bothering you, Mr. Bridges, but if we could just come down and go out through your door . . ." Tea tried.  
  
"No," Bridges growled again. "I won't have you kids tramping through my room!"  
  
"Testy, testy," Joey scolded teasingly, shaking a finger at the man. "What're you doing up at four in the morning, anyway?"  
  
"None of your business!" Bridges screamed. "Go back the way you came! Out! Out!"  
  
"Well, he's obviously not gonna let us through," Joey said, annoyed. "We'll havta find another way out." As they turned around to crawl back the other way, Joey smacked his fist into his palm. "And when we do, I'm gonna climb down and go out through whoever's door before they can do a thing about it!"  
****  
"I wonder why Mr. Bridges was so adamant that we not come down into his room?" Tea mused several minutes later.  
  
"He obviously had something to hide," Joey grumbled.  
  
"I think there might be another door here," Yugi announced suddenly, pushing at a new panel, which abruptly fell off and clattered to the floor below.  
  
"Alright!" Joey grinned, moving forward. "Look out below, 'cause we're comin' through!" Without even waiting to see what he was jumping into, Joey leaped out of the hole and to the floor below.  
  
"I didn't think he'd actually do it," Tea remarked, her eyes wide.  
  
"With Joey, anything's possible," Tristan sighed as they looked to see what kind of trouble the Brooklyn-born boy had gotten them into now.  
  
Joey was down below, dusting himself off, while Seto and Mokuba Kaiba just looked on, completely flabbergasted.  
  
"Hey, guys, come on down!" Joey called.  
  
Slowly the other four climbed out of the open panel and to the floor.  
  
The Kaiba brothers snapped out of their trance. "What's going on?" Seto demanded.  
  
"We're sorry about coming in like this," Yugi began.  
  
"But we were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by," Joey interrupted smartly.  
  
Seto's eyes narrowed at the cliched pun. "It's four in the morning! Don't you guys ever sleep?"  
  
"Not when we're on the trail of a mysterious villain," Joey grinned.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow. "Any luck?"  
  
"We did find a clue," Yugi admitted.  
  
"And one weird guy who's shot to the top of our suspect list," Joey declared. "Owen Bridges!"  
  
"Hmm, well, if he was acting weird because a bunch of kids dropped through his ceiling, I don't think he should be labeled a suspect," Seto replied with a smirk.  
  
"No, it was more than that," Yugi laughed.  
  
"He definitely was trying to hide something from us," Bakura added.  
  
"And we're gonna find out what," Joey said, punching the air.  
  
"Well, why not do it at a reasonable hour?" Seto said dryly.  
  
"Actually, we *were* going to go back to bed now," Yugi said, moving to the door and opening it.  
  
"Yeah. See you later, Kaiba," Joey added, and he and the others followed Yugi out of the room. 


	7. The Guests are Questioned

Note: Chuck-A-Rama and the Oak restaurant are real places. I don't own them ^_~  
  
  
Several scant hours later, everyone gathered in the dining room to decide what they would do.  
  
"We should each choose two or three of the guests and try to find and question them throughout the day," Tea announced. "Just see what their reactions are to certain things, like Lisa with her earring."  
  
"I'll talk to her," Joey grinned.  
  
"Also, maybe you can look for DeeDee," Tea suggested.  
  
In the end, Yugi wound up with the assignment to find out who the man at the cliff's edge was and also to look for the Cobbs family, Tristan would interview Rocco, and Bakura and Tea would find Owen Bridges and Percival von Bruno. After brunch, they would go their separate ways and look for their chosen interviewees.  
****  
"What's wrong, big brother?" Mokuba asked, concerned. Seto had just entered the den looking very put out.  
  
"Von Bruno pulled a disappearing act again," the older Kaiba replied with a sigh. "Now he just called and suggested we meet at eight tonight, and he refused to tell me where he was during the time we were supposed to meet this morning."  
  
"That's twice now," Mokuba observed. "Big brother, I don't know if you should trust him."  
  
Seto smiled, ruffling Mokuba's hair. "I don't trust him," he said, "and if he doesn't show up tonight, I'm going to be very, very angry."  
****  
"Hey, Lisa!" Joey called, waving excitedly.  
  
"Joey! What have you been up to?" Lisa asked, smiling as she walked over to him.  
  
"Well, actually, I've been up in the crawlspace on the second floor," Joey announced.  
  
"Oh really?" Lisa said, sounded surprised. "What were you doing up in that place?"  
  
Joey recounted the adventures of early that morning, all the while wondering how Lisa knew about the crawlspace, unless she'd been in there herself. "And guess what we found!" He held up the earring.  
  
Lisa's eyes went wide. "My earring!" she exclaimed. "I was going crazy trying to find it!"  
  
"Where did you lose it, Lisa?" Joey asked curiously, handing it to her.  
  
"Yesterday," Lisa replied, "somewhere in the snow, I thought. I don't know how it ever got in the crawlspace."  
  
Joey couldn't tell whether Lisa was being truthful or not, but he was hoping desperately that she was.  
****  
"Hey, Rocco!" Tristan called.  
  
The ski instructor looked up from the skis he was cleaning. "Oh, hey," he said. "Tristan, right?"  
  
"That's me," Tristan said grandly. "So, what do you think about these weird things going on lately?"  
  
"I think someone's seriously demented," Rocco replied with a frown. "And somebody had better find out what's going on soon before we get shut down."  
  
"Shut down?" Tristan repeated. "I haven't heard anything like that."  
  
"Well, it's bound to happen," Rocco shrugged, "eventually. We can't possibly stay open if this kinda stuff keeps happening."  
  
"Who do you think is behind it?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I honestly have no idea," Rocco said, "and hey, I'd love to keep chatting, Tristan, but it's time for me to teach my next class."  
  
"Alright. See you later . . ." Tristan trailed off when he realized Rocco had already skipped. "He was sure eager to get away," the hazel-eyed boy commented to himself.  
****  
Carl paused thoughtfully. Yugi had just asked him about the guy from the cliff incident and had described him. "That was Kevin, the ski lift operator," the elderly man deduced.  
  
"Really?" Yugi's violet eyes widened. "I'd like to talk to him."  
  
"Well. . . ." Carl checked his watch. "He should be taking his usual 3 o'clock break about now."  
  
"Great! I'll try to catch him." Yugi jumped up to hurry off.  
  
"If you can't find him here, check with the Chuck-A-Rama restaurant in the city," Carl suggested. "He'll either be there or at the Oak restaurant here in the canyon. He's a regular customer; everyone at both places knows him by now."  
  
"Thanks Carl," Yugi smiled. "We'll crack this case, I promise!"  
  
As he headed off, he met up with Tristan, who was just coming back from talking to Rocco.  
  
"Hi, Tristan. Any luck?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Not really," Tristan replied. "But he sure high-tailed it away in a hurry when I started talking about the 'accidents.'"  
  
"Hmm, that's odd," Yugi remarked.  
  
"He did say he had to go teach his class," Tristan added, "but still, he left pretty quick."  
  
"It might be nothing," Yugi said as they started walking again. "But then he might've wanted to get away before you asked anything inquisitive about him."  
  
"Exactly what I was thinking," Tristan replied. "So, where are we going, Yugi?"  
  
"To find Kevin, the ski lift operator," Yugi informed his friend. "We might be able to catch him before he goes on his break."  
  
"Cool," Tristan said as they neared the operator's booth. "And then we'll look for the Cobbs?"  
  
Yugi nodded. "That's right." He paused. "Hmm, it looks like he's not here."  
  
"Who runs the ski lift when he's not around?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"There's supposed to be another operator or something," Yugi mused, "and sometimes Carl takes over. But it looks like no one's here right now." He glanced up at the ski lift. "Good thing it's not moving right now, and that no one's trapped on it."  
  
Tristan tried the doorknob. "It's not locked." He pushed the door open and went in, Yugi hot on his heels.  
  
"Hey, what's this?" Tristan held up a newspaper with a large hole in the front page.  
  
"It looks like Kevin or someone cut something out of the paper," Yugi remarked.  
  
"What was the story that was here?" Tristan wondered, putting his hand through the hole.  
  
"I believe it was about that letter robbery," Yugi replied after some thought.  
  
"Why would Kevin be interested in that?" Tristan mused, setting the paper down.  
  
"I don't know, but speaking of that letter robbery, we should try to learn more about it in case it somehow relates to what's happening here," Yugi said.  
  
"Alright, let's go look for the Cobbs and then try to learn more about the purloined letters," Tristan grinned.  
****  
"I wonder where Mr. Bridges is," Tea mused. "He's usually reading the paper or doing something inside."  
  
"Maybe he's out skiing," Bakura suggested. "He was part of the group that gathered when DeeDee fell over the cliff."  
  
"That's right!" Tea remembered. "But . . . he didn't have any ski poles, now that I think about it."  
  
"That's right!" Bakura exclaimed. "He hadn't been skiing. But then, what was he doing?" He paused, starting suddenly. "Look out! It's a snowmobile!" he gasped.  
  
"What?" Tea turned to look. Bakura was right—a black and red snowmobile was heading right their way. It drove right up alongside them and stopped. Its driver got off and removed his helmet triumphantly.  
  
"Mr. Bridges!" Bakura and Tea exclaimed in unison.  
  
"Now what did you kids think of that?" Owen Bridges said proudly. He sounded so different from his usual crabby self that the two teens could hardly believe he was the same man.  
  
"It was terrific, Mr. Bridges," Tea said finally, and Bakura nodded in agreement.  
  
"Ha! You youngsters didn't think someone of my advancing age could pull off such a thing, did you?" Bridges grinned.  
  
"I'm surprised that someone of any age could ride one of those," Tea replied.  
  
"And not fall off," Bakura added with a smile.  
  
"Exactly," Tea agreed.  
  
"Snowmobiles are my passion," Bridges announced, patting the machine's handlebars. "I've owned this one for twenty-five years."  
  
"Wow!" Tea said, impressed.  
  
"I suppose you must know all about how they operate," Bakura remarked, trying to just sound casual.  
  
"Indeed!" Bridges said. "Anything that can be done with a snowmobile, I can do it!"  
  
"Impressive," Bakura mused. "Very impressive!"  
  
Bridges laughed.  
  
"I'm glad you're in such a good mood today, Mr. Bridges," Tea smiled. "Does 'anything that can be done with a snowmobile' include making it run by itself?" she asked innocently.  
  
"I've never had a reason to do such a thing," Bridges said. He squinted at her. "What exactly are you insinuating, young lady?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Tea said airily.  
  
"I'll have you know, I did not make that snowmobile chase Lisa . . . er, Miss North!" Bridges said hotly. "Now if you youngsters will excuse me, I have more mountains to climb!" With that he got back on his snowmobile and sped off.  
  
"Well, that was rather odd," Bakura commented when the black vehicle was out of sight.  
  
"You can say that again," Tea sighed.  
  
"Do you think he's guilty?" Bakura asked.  
  
"It's hard to say," Tea replied, "but at this point, I would say probably not."  
  
"Did you hear how he started to address the reporter by her first name?" Bakura said.  
  
"I did," Tea nodded. She paused. "I wonder if he likes her, if you know what I mean."  
  
Bakura blushed. "Isn't he a little old for her?"  
  
"I would think so, but maybe he doesn't," Tea replied.  
  
Suddenly Bakura gasped. "Look! It's the spectre!"  
  
"What?" Tea turned to look where Bakura was pointing. Sure enough, high up in a pine tree perched the mysterious phantom of the day before. "Who are you?" she demanded.  
  
The figure laughed. "I am the ghost of Pierre LeBlanc, come to reclaim what is rightfully mine!"  
  
"How will sabotaging everything here help you get what you want?" Tea demanded. "Who are you really?"  
  
"I told you," the phantom growled, "I am Pierre LeBlanc's ghost!" With that, he sprang down from the tree and started running down the slope.  
  
"Come on!" Tea cried. "After him!"  
  
Thus began a wild goose chase that eventually led the two teens right back where they had started from.  
  
"I think he eluded us," Bakura sighed.  
  
"Yes, but look here," Tea said, going over to the tree the phantom had occupied and pulling a small piece of navy blue cloth off of it. "The 'ghost' tore his business suit on this tree. This could be a great clue!"  
  
"Good work, Tea!" Bakura congratulated. "I wonder if the others have had any luck?"  
****  
Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed in vexation. He had had enough of von Bruno's elusiveness. Now he was going to track him down and demand an explanation, and probably call the deal off as well.  
  
Reaching the second floor, he looked around for von Bruno's room and finding it, went over. "The door's unlocked," he muttered, seeing the door was partially open. "Maybe he's in here."  
  
He knocked on the door. "Von Bruno! Are you in here?" He pushed the door open wider and stood in the doorway. "Von Bruno?"  
  
That was the last thing he remembered before everything went black. 


	8. Hard Knocks and Apple Cider

Notes: Just to be safe, I am rating this chapter PG mainly because of the threat near the end (you'll see) ^^ Also, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed my story so far, including the two anonymous reviewers of chapter 7 who gave me some good chuckles with their review antics ^^ BTW, Mokuba wants to tell Zheryta that he thinks his brother is much smarter than their ancient Egyptian ancestor the dark priest ;D Heh heh. Okay, I'll shut up now!!  
  
  
It was late that night when the five tired friends finally met in the den and recounted the day's experiences.  
  
"Tristan and I went looking for information about that letter robbery," Yugi announced, "and you guys will never believe the name of the victim!"  
  
"Who?" Joey asked.  
  
"Peggy Flemming!" Tristan said grandly.  
  
"Flemming?" Tea repeated. "But isn't that . . ."  
  
"The name of LeBlanc's business rival who wound up owning this manor," Yugi finished with a nod. "This is his grand-niece."  
  
"Whoa, this is getting kinda freaky," Joey commented. "Now we know there must be a connection between our mystery and the robbery."  
  
"It could just be a strange coincidence," Tea said.  
  
"Hey!" Joey exclaimed suddenly. "Bridges!"  
  
"What about Bridges?" Tea wondered.  
  
"Last night he was trying desperately to hide something from us that he was looking at," Joey said triumphantly. "What if it was the purloined letters?"  
  
"But what would he want with them?" Tea sighed. "This mystery is only getting more and more confusing."  
  
"It looks like it's time to search the rooms," Joey said.  
  
"I suppose we'll have to," Yugi said reluctantly.  
  
"Hey you guys . . ."  
  
Everyone turned at the sound of the new voice. Mokuba entered the den, looking worried. "Have any of you seen my brother?"  
  
"No, we haven't," Tea said in surprise.  
  
"How long has he been gone, Mokuba?" Yugi asked, concerned.  
  
"He left around eight-fifteen to look for that von Bruno guy," Mokuba replied, his blue-gray eyes shining with worry. "Seto was supposed to meet with him to discuss this business deal, but the guy didn't show up again!"  
  
"We couldn't find von Bruno either, when we looked earlier today," Tea remarked.  
  
"There's somethin' really weird about that guy," Joey added.  
  
"And you haven't seen your brother since?" Yugi asked.  
  
Mokuba shook his head. "No, and I'm worried about him. I don't trust that von Bruno guy."  
  
"Just what we need—another mystery on top of the one we already have," Tristan sighed.  
  
At that moment a loud thump came from the hall.  
  
"What was that?" Everyone leaped up, looking around.   
  
"I'll go check it out," Joey said, wandering into the lobby boldly. "Well, speak of the devil," he grinned when he saw. "Kaiba, what have you been up to? A little night-skiing, maybe?"  
  
Seto Kaiba slowly descended the stairs, his ever-present briefcase in hand. Joey noticed that the other boy's hair was disheveled and in disarray, very much unlike his usual neatly combed style, and his deep blue eyes looked bloodshot and glazed over.  
  
"No, I wasn't night-skiing," Seto replied, offering no explanation for his disappearance. He stumbled into the den and Joey followed. The young CEO collapsed into one of the overstuffed chairs, holding a hand to the back of his head as if he were in pain.  
  
"Big brother! Are you okay?" Mokuba climbed up onto the chair's arm worriedly.  
  
"Where have you been, Kaiba?" Yugi asked. He paused, taking in the other boy's battered appearance. "Someone hurt you, didn't they?"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it," Seto mumbled.  
  
"But you are hurt, aren't you, big brother?" Mokuba said, his eyes wide.  
  
"I'll be alright, Mokuba," Seto replied, managing a smile.  
  
"Hang on, I'm gonna go find some ice!" Mokuba declared, jumping down and disappearing into the kitchen.  
  
"So, Kaiba, spill it," Joey said. "What happened to you? You look like you've seen better days."  
  
Seto sighed. "If you must know, someone bludgeoned me up in von Bruno's room."  
  
The others gasped. "That's awful!" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
"Eh, are you sure you shouldn't see a doctor?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"It's nothing a good rest won't cure, Wheeler," Seto replied.  
  
"How did it happen?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I was looking for von Bruno and I decided to check in his room," Seto began. "The door was unlocked—it hadn't been previously—so I opened it to look around. The next thing I know, I'm waking up on the floor in his room." His eyes narrowed angrily at the memory.  
  
"What kind of sleazy person would do somethin' like that?" Joey demanded, pounding his fist into his palm.  
  
"Someone who didn't want to be found," Seto replied. "They were obviously doing something in there that no one was supposed to know about."  
  
"How long ago did this happen?" Yugi gasped.  
  
Seto shrugged. "I'm assuming it was a couple of hours ago at least, but I wouldn't really know." He smirked sardonically. "One tends to loose track of time when they're unconscious."  
  
Then Mokuba returned with a plastic bag full of ice cubes. "It's all I could find," he said apologetically. "Most everyone's gone to bed now, including the people in the kitchen."  
  
Seto smiled. "This is fine, Mokuba. Thanks." He took the ice from Mokuba and placed it over his injury.  
  
"I think maybe Joey is right," Tea spoke up. "You should have a doctor check you out."  
  
"No," Seto replied firmly. "I don't need a doctor. I'm fine! Besides, I don't want this somehow getting broadcast everywhere."  
  
Yugi understood. "It's alright, Kaiba. You couldn't have known someone would attack you."  
  
"Yeah," Joey shrugged, "you don't havta feel embarrassed about it. Hey, even Sherlock Holmes got bashed a few times."  
  
Kaiba muttered something unintelligible and departed for bed shortly afterwards.  
  
"I wonder who would've done that to him," Tristan mused.  
  
"Von Bruno?" Bakura suggested.  
  
"Maybe, but I don't think he could hit the broad side of a barn," Joey grinned.  
  
"His absent-mindedness could just be an act," Tea said. "What was he really doing outside the library door yesterday? I'm sure he didn't really loose a contact."  
  
"Nothing adds up," Yugi sighed. ~Yami, can you help us out?~  
  
**Sorry, Yugi,** Yami Yugi replied. **I don't know what's going on here. I wish I did. But if you want me to help with your brainstorming, I will.**  
  
~Thanks, Yami. That'd be great. We need all the help we can get!~  
  
"I guess all we can do is hope to find some answers when we search the rooms tomorrow," Joey said.  
  
"I still don't like the thought of doing that," Yugi frowned.  
  
A loud crash came from the kitchen and everyone sprang up.  
  
"What was that?" Tea exclaimed.  
  
"Maybe someone's bustin' in!" Joey suggested.  
  
"Well, let's go see," Yugi said boldly, summoning Yami Yugi. "Tea, you stay here and call the police if it becomes necessary."  
  
"Alright," she agreed.  
  
Quickly and quietly the four boys made their way to the darkened kitchen. "On the count of three," Yugi said in a hushed tone, "we'll rush in and turn the lights on. One . . ."  
  
Everyone positioned themselves around the doorway.  
  
"Two . . ."  
  
Another clattering noise was heard from the kitchen.  
  
"Three!"  
  
Instantly they all burst in and Tristan hit the lights. Joey grabbed a rolling pin off the countertop. "Alright! Who wants a beatin'?!" he yelled, assuming an attack position.  
  
"I don't think you'll be needing that, Joey," Yugi said with a crooked grin, walking on ahead of them. "Here's our intruder." He pointed to Yami Bakura sprawled on the floor, a jug of apple cider in his hands.  
  
"Huh? What's he doin' like that?" Joey wondered, scratching his head in confusion.  
  
Yugi pried the jug out of Yami Bakura's grip and looked at the label. "This apple cider is twenty-five years old."  
  
"Oh man," Tristan said, shaking his head. "No wonder he's on the floor."  
  
"The cider's gone hard," Yugi stated.  
  
"You mean he's . . ." Bakura's eyes went wide.  
  
Yugi nodded. "I'm afraid your yami has gotten very tipsy." He knelt down on the floor to pull the sluggish yami to his feet, and Bakura rushed to assist.  
  
"Ah, the Pillenium Muzzle," Yami Bakura slurred, opening his eyes and shakily taking hold of the upsidedown pyramid around Yugi's neck. "Someday it will be mine . . ."  
  
"Not this day," Yugi replied.  
  
"Whoa," Joey said, setting the rolling pin aside, "he's totally sloshed."  
  
"What's going on here?" Tea demanded, running to the door. "Is everyone okay? I wasn't sure whether to call the police or not!"  
  
"Depends on what you mean by okay," Tristan said with a funny smile.   
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Bakura's yami here has been playing footsie with age-old apple cider," Joey informed her, just as Yami Bakura broke into hysterical laughter. "Shush!" Joey scolded him. "You'll wake everyone up!"  
  
"Too late," Carl sighed, coming to stand in the doorway.  
  
"I knew you should've gotten rid of that stuff," Betty chided.  
  
"We're sorry about the noise," Bakura apologized, nearly toppling over as his yami suddenly leaned on him.  
  
"Oh, it's quite alright, kids," Carl said, "but who is this young man?"  
  
"I'm old enough to be your many-great grandfather," Yami Bakura replied with another wild laugh, "and then some!"  
  
"It's kinda a long, long story," Joey tried to explain.  
  
"He'll probably think we were all drinking the cider if you tell him the guy's a 5,000 year old Egyptian thief, Joey," Tristan whispered.  
  
"Well, no matter," Carl said, waving his hand dismissively.  
  
"We'd better get him upstairs and let him sleep it off," Bakura said.  
  
"My thoughts exactly," Yugi agreed.  
  
"This is terrible!" Betty said bemoaningly, wringing her hands. "I'm so sorry this happened, Yugi . . ."  
  
"It's quite alright, Betty," Yugi replied. "It wasn't your fault. And there wasn't any real harm done . . . I hope," he added, more to himself and his own Yami than to anyone else.   
  
"I have an idea," Yami Bakura slurred. "Why don't we all join in singing?" With that, he proceeded to wail an off-key version of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog."  
  
"Please be quiet, Yami!" Bakura exclaimed, turning red with embarrassment as they left the kitchen.  
  
"No real harm done, huh?" Tea remarked.  
  
"Why don't we take the dumbwaiter up?" Joey suggested. "It might be kinda hard to take the stairs with Yami B. in his . . . present state."  
  
"Good point, Joey," Yugi said.  
****  
By the time they reached the second floor, Yami Bakura had slipped ungracefully into unconsciousness, but not before belting out choruses of "Jailhouse Rock" and "Don't Be Cruel," which had echoed loudly in the cramped dumbwaiter.  
  
"Don't be cruel to our eardrums," Tea muttered, causing Joey to crack up. "See you guys tomorrow!"  
  
Tristan and Joey also said goodnight, and then Yugi and Bakura dragged Yami Bakura into their own room and laid him on the couch.  
  
"What a day," Yugi sighed, as his own Yami left Yugi and suddenly appeared in the room with them.  
  
"You can say that again," he said with his crooked smile. "I never knew your Yami was such a horrible singer, Bakura."  
  
"I didn't know he was any kind of a singer," Bakura replied.  
  
"I'm sure he's not, when he's in his right mind," Yami Yugi laughed.  
  
"Oh wow," Yugi said suddenly, looking at the clock, "it's going on for one in the morning!"  
  
"I had no idea," Bakura remarked. "But it was late when Seto Kaiba came downstairs . . . after eleven, I believe."  
  
"I wish we could solve this mystery," Yugi sighed. "Especially before anyone else gets hurt." He turned to climb onto his bed. "What the . . . what's this??!" he exclaimed suddenly.  
  
Yami Yugi clicked on the light next to the bed. "It's a warning!" he declared grimly.  
  
Written on the wall in some kind of red ink that looked hauntingly like blood was:  
  
Stop your snooping  
if you want to be around   
to stay skiing!  
  
And just below the message, embedded in the wall and also dripping red with the red ink, was a deadly-looking knife. 


	9. Up in von Bruno's Room

"Oh my!" Bakura gasped, staring at the graffiti and the cutlery.  
  
"The door was locked!" Yugi exclaimed. "How did they get in?"  
  
Yami Yugi grimly pointed at the curtain, which was blowing faintly. "Through the window."  
  
"The window! But we're on the second floor," Yugi protested, rushing over and looking out. It was a long drop to the bottom. There was a small, empty flower box outside the window, but no way to get into it, unless . . .  
  
Yugi leaned out the window and looked up at the window directly above his. Someone could've used a rope and scaled down the wall, into the flower box, and in through his window.  
  
"Be careful, Yugi. You don't want to fall out," his Yami warned.  
  
"I'll be alright," Yugi said, pulling himself back inside. "I wonder what kind of room is directly above us?"  
  
"I don't know," Yami Yugi mused.  
  
"Why not wait until tomorrow to investigate it?" Bakura said. He paused. "Or should we inform the police about this threat? This is quite serious after all."  
  
"I'd hate to wake Carl up again so late, but you're right, Bakura," Yugi said. "This is serious. We'd better go tell him."  
  
"I'll stay here in case the perpetrator decides to come back for some reason," Yami Yugi volunteered. "And in case he wakes up before the effects of the cider have worn off," he added, indicating Yami Bakura.  
  
As Yugi and Bakura left the room and walked back down the hall, Yugi said suddenly, "I just realized something—they could've also used the crawlspace to get in, and then just left the window open to throw us off!"  
  
"That's possible too," Bakura said wide-eyed. "This whole thing is quite disturbing."  
  
"That's for sure."  
  
Suddenly both Tristan and Joey's, and Tea's doors flew open. "Someone just threatened us!" they all screamed in unison.  
  
"You guys too?" Bakura exclaimed, wide-eyed.  
  
"Someone stuck a knife in our wall," Yugi added, when three pairs of questioning eyes turned to him and Bakura.  
  
"Alright, now that's just not funny," Tea declared. "We should call the police."  
  
"First we need to tell Carl," Yugi replied.  
  
They hurried downstairs to find the elderly man. "Yugi, I have the feelin' that whoever's been doin' this wouldn't hesitate to really use those knifes," Joey remarked.  
  
"I'm afraid you're right, Joey," Yugi said gravely.  
****  
"What!" Carl's eyes first went wide with horror, then narrowed in anger and outrage. "Alright, that's it." He sighed in defeat. "It's not safe. I should have never agreed to let you all stay here."  
  
"Hey, we're not lettin' ourselves be scared off by a few measly threats!" Joey declared.  
  
"I would never forgive myself if anything happened to any of you," Carl replied.  
  
"It's alright, Carl," Yugi said. "We'll be okay. We don't have any intentions of leaving until this mystery is solved!"  
  
"Yeah! We've been to the Shadow Realm and back," Tristan chimed in.  
  
"And defeated many enemies," Tea added.  
  
"Who, I must say, are probably more dangerous for the most part than whoever we're dealing with now," Bakura remarked.  
  
Carl sighed again. "You kids are stubborn."  
  
"Hey, we're not gonna leave you here to deal with the 'accidents' by yourself," Joey said with a shrug.  
  
"That's right," Yugi agreed. "We're sticking it out!"  
  
"Well, I guess there's no convincing you," Carl said reluctantly, "even tho since you got here, you've had ski poles thrown at you, phantoms appearing at you, people have fallen off cliffs, and now you've been threatened with knifes!"  
  
"Not to mention Kaiba got bashed on the head," Joey added.  
  
Carl turned pale. "What?! When?!"  
  
"Earlier tonight . . . or would that be yesterday now?" Joey mused.  
  
"Is he alright?" Carl demanded.  
  
"Accordin' to him, he is," Joey shrugged.  
  
Carl slumped into a chair. One more 'accident' to add to the list.  
****  
"Whoa, I can't believe what that police officer said," Joey remarked a tiring hour later as they finally trooped back to their rooms for some sleep.  
  
"Yeah. If this isn't resolved within the next three to five days, they're going to shut the whole place down," Tristan stated. "And if another really bad disaster happens anytime during those three to five days, they could shut the place down even sooner."  
  
"We need to find out who's behind this quickly then!" Bakura declared.  
  
"That's right," Tea agreed. "Tomorrow we'll all split up again. Some of us will search the rooms, and the rest of us will go talk to Peggy Flemming."  
  
They all said goodnight once again and disappeared into their various rooms.  
  
Yami Yugi looked up with relief when Yugi and Bakura came in. "I'm glad you're both back," he said. "He woke up a while ago and tried to make me do the jitterbug with him." He indicated Yami Bakura, who now was passed out again on the couch.  
  
Bakura and Yugi grinned in spite of the seriousness of the mystery they had to solve. "My poor yami," Bakura chuckled, shaking his head. "I have the feeling he won't be very happy to learn of his antics in the morning."  
  
"Just try to keep him away from apple cider in the future," Yami Yugi said.  
  
"I'm sure he'll see to that himself," Bakura replied.  
****  
The next day at breakfast, the Kaiba brothers and von Bruno were all noticeably absent. Kaiba hadn't been eating at the resort since his arrival, but he usually came downstairs to check his mail in the morning. Betty said he hadn't been down so far today.  
  
"I hope he really is okay," Yugi said worriedly. "He must've taken quite a blow."  
  
Joey shrugged. "Eh, you know Kaiba. He usually bounces back pretty quick. Maybe the guy just didn't wanna deal with rapid-fire questioning from all the guests." He grinned.  
  
"That sounds like Kaiba alright," Tea remarked.  
  
"But now where von Bruno is . . . that's a real mystery," Joey sighed.  
  
"How's your yami, Bakura?" Tristan asked. "Did he try any more bad Elvis impressions?"  
  
Bakura chuckled. "No, actually. He woke up right before Yugi and I came downstairs and wondered what had happened. When we told him, he started screaming in ancient Egyptian and disappeared. He didn't go back in the Ring . . . I hope he's not planning some kind of mischief," he sighed worriedly.  
  
"You never know with that guy," Tristan sighed.  
  
"Alright, let's decide how we're going to do this," Tea said.  
  
"Why don't you and Tristan question that Flemming lady while Yugi, Bakura, and yours truly search the rooms?" Joey suggested.  
  
"Fine with me," Tea said. "Is that acceptable to everyone?"  
  
After they all agreed on the idea, the five teens split up to try to shed some light on the baffling mystery.  
  
"Everyone's for sure not up in their rooms, right?" Joey said as he, Yugi, and Bakura headed upstairs.  
  
"I think they're all outside on the slopes," Yugi replied.  
  
"Whose room do we check first?" Bakura wondered.  
  
Before anyone could answer, a door near the end of the hall opened and Seto Kaiba stepped out, Mokuba following closely alongside him. They noticed that the young businessman was looking a lot steadier than he had the previous night, and he didn't appear to be suffering any pain.  
  
"Hey, Kaiba," Yugi greeted. "Are you feeling better?"  
  
"I'm fine, Yugi," Seto replied. "They can't take me down that easily."  
  
"We were just going to check the guests' rooms for clues," Bakura said.  
  
Seto's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea. I should search von Bruno's room and see if I can figure out what my attacker wanted in there."  
  
"Maybe the jerk was von Bruno himself and not some intruder," Mokuba suggested.  
  
"It could've been," Seto agreed. "I'm not sure I'd put anything past him."  
  
"Well, why don't you come with us?" Yugi suggested.  
  
"Yeah, we need all the help we can get," Joey said.  
  
"Oh, I'll come with you alright," Seto said determinedly. "I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do."  
  
"Which room is von Bruno's?" Joey asked.  
  
"This one," Seto replied, going to the infamous door. Mokuba tried the knob.  
  
"It's unlocked again," he announced.  
  
Everyone gathered around the door and Mokuba opened it.  
  
"Now be careful," Seto warned. "Someone might be sneaking around again and try to knock us all out."  
  
"Pleasant thought," Bakura remarked sarcastically.  
  
Joey assumed a fighting stance as they went in, and immediately started checking around for hidden assailants. "I think we're alone in here this time," he declared presently.  
  
"Bakura, you stand guard in case someone comes," Yugi suggested.  
  
"Alright," the silver-haired boy agreed.  
  
Mokuba opened the desk drawer and pawed through a phone book and some papers. "Nothing suspicious in here," he said.  
  
"Not here either," Yugi said, closing the drawer of the antique-looking nightstand.  
  
"Nuts," Joey sighed, preparing to shut the closet door. "Wait . . . what's this?"  
  
Everyone came to attention. "What did you find, Joey?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Some weird statue . . . it was probably sitting on top of the desk or something," Joey mused, holding up a cat figurine made of some kind of attractive stone.  
  
"Why do you say that, Joey?" Bakura said curiously.  
  
"Well, because there's a ring on the desk like there sometimes is when something's sat somewhere for a long time," Joey replied. "And the statue fits over that ring perfectly." He paused. "What I'd like to know is, why was it on the closet floor?"  
  
"Maybe someone hit Kaiba with it and then hid it in there," Yugi suggested.  
  
Joey turned it over and over in his hands. "Hit him with this? Ouch."  
  
"My thoughts exactly," Seto said dryly, coming over to look at it. He glanced in the closet. "There's something else in there."  
  
"Huh?" Joey turned to look as Seto pulled a crumpled jacket out from the back of the closet.  
  
"Hey!" Bakura exclaimed. "That looks like the jacket the phantom wore yesterday."  
  
"There's a piece missing," Seto noticed.  
  
"He tore it on a tree," Bakura explained.  
  
"So von Bruno is the phantom?" Joey said, scratching his head.  
  
"Looks that way," Yugi replied. "We need to talk to him and see how he reacts to the piece of cloth Tea found from that jacket."  
  
"Good luck finding him," Seto said dryly.  
  
Suddenly Bakura's eyes went wide and he motioned frantically with his hand. "Quick! We have to hide. Von Bruno's coming!" 


	10. Bakura is Captured!

Abruptly the door opened and von Bruno walked in. He looked around aghast, spotting the coat, which Joey had left setting across the bed.  
  
"Oh goodness. Oh gracious. What's this doing here?" he exclaimed. "I didn't put this here . . . or did I?" He picked it up with shaking hands and hung it back in the closet, noticing the cat statue, which was laying on top of the nightstand, in the process. "Oh my. What's this? Where did you come from, kitty? I don't remember seeing you before." He left it on the nightstand and turned to leave. "Oh wait. . . . What did I come in here for?" Confused, the absent-minded man scratched his head and left the room.  
  
Slowly the five boys came out from their hiding places. "Well, that was enlightening," Yugi remarked, coming out from under the bed, along with Joey and Kaiba.  
  
"He really is as absent-minded as he seems," Bakura commented wide-eyed as he and Mokuba came out of the closet, where they'd been hiding on a shelf.  
  
"He recognized the jacket!" Mokuba declared.  
  
"But he didn't seem to have seen the statue before," Yugi mused.  
  
"I doubt that he's the one who hit me," Seto grumbled. "He probably wouldn't have remembered to."  
  
Joey cracked up.  
  
"Well, so now we know that von Bruno *could* be the phantom," Yugi said as they left the room.  
  
"Or that he's maybe in cahoots with him," Joey put in as they went across the hall to Owen Bridges' room.  
  
"The door is locked," Yugi announced after trying the knob.  
  
"Well, I'll fix that in a jiffy," Joey replied, pulling out a library card and fitting it in the door crack.  
  
"I didn't know you liked to read, Joey," Yugi commented.  
  
Joey shrugged. "It's actually Tea's card. I borrowed it from her this morning just in case of such an emergency." With the others guarding him in case someone should walk by, Joey quickly had the door open. "Alright!" he crowed triumphantly. "Everybody in!"  
  
"Now we have to be careful," Bakura cautioned. "We don't want another close encounter."  
  
"What's this?" Mokuba picked up a piece of paper left on top of the desk and started to read it aloud. "'My darling, my world was nothing until you came into it. I count the hours until we meet again, until I once again behold your cherubic face and kiss your soft ruby lips . . .'"  
  
Seto's eyes went wide with horror and he snatched the note away before Mokuba could read on. "Let me see that, Mokuba." He scanned over the rest of the letter.  
  
"Who's it to?" Joey asked curiously, trying to peer over Kaiba's shoulder.  
  
"It's not addressed," Seto replied. "It just says . . ." He stopped, glancing at Mokuba, who was listening with goggle-eyed interest. "Never mind. You read it, Wheeler." He shoved the letter at Joey.  
  
Yugi chuckled at Kaiba's determination to shield Mokuba from the mushy love letter and started checking the book shelf, hoping desperately for some kind of answers.  
  
"So now we know Bridges has a major crush on someone," Joey remarked with a sigh. "Big help that is."  
****  
Meanwhile, Tristan and Tea got off the UTA bus in the city of Ogden.  
  
"Now to find the Flemming mansion," Tea mused, going over to a phone booth and perusing the telephone directory.  
  
"Maybe she's unlisted," Tristan suggested when Tea shut the heavy book in frustration.  
  
"Obviously," Tea sighed.  
  
"Maybe we should just look for the ritzy part of town," Tristan said. "From there, someone should know where Ms. Flemming is."  
  
"Good idea, Tristan!" Tea smiled. "Let's do it!"  
****"So now what?" Joey sighed a couple of hours and many room searches later. "We've found all kinds of oddball clues in nearly every room, except the Cobbs'. There's somethin' kinda weird about them, the way they keep disappearin' like von Bruno does."  
  
"Have Cindy and Trevor ever mentioned to you where their parents keep vanishing to, Mokuba?" Yugi asked the younger Kaiba.  
  
"I don't think so," Mokuba replied, "but Trevor did say something about them coming out here to work on their family history."  
  
"Really?" Yugi said thoughtfully.  
  
"Hey, they might be visiting the cemeteries then," Joey suggested.  
  
"It's more likely that they'd visit the family history library in Salt Lake City," Seto remarked.  
  
"That's right," Yugi said. "I remember hearing about that place. It's supposed to be one of the most complex and complete libraries of its kind."  
  
"Well, so what do we do now?" Joey wondered. "All these mismatched clues are givin' me a brilliant headache."  
  
"We have to make sense of them somehow," Bakura said.  
  
Suddenly a horrible scream echoed through the whole manor.  
  
"What was that?" Joey exclaimed.  
  
"It sounded like Betty," Yugi realized as they all dashed downstairs.  
****  
"Well, here we are," Tristan declared. "The Flemming mansion."  
  
"Yeah, now if we can just get in," Tea sighed, surveying the immense, towering stone wall running the length of the estate.  
  
"Hey, no problem. There should be a bell or intercom here somewhere," Tristan mused. He began pressing the wall, hoping to find a hidden panel.  
  
Suddenly the gate at the front started opening. "Tristan! What did you do?" Tea gasped.  
  
"I didn't do anything," Tristan protested. "But come on!" He grabbed Tea's hand and they ran through the gate before it could close again.  
  
"There's no one around," Tea realized in surprise. "Who could've opened the gate?"  
  
The two teens froze when they heard a low growling noise.  
  
"That wasn't you, was it?" Tea asked.  
  
"No," Tristan replied. "Was it you?"  
  
Tea was about to make a retort when two large guard dogs appeared from around the corner of the house. "Oh no! We've got big trouble now!" she moaned. "It was them!"  
  
"Oh man. Who let the dogs out?" Tristan took a deep breath. "Alright now, we have to stay calm. If the dogs know we're scared, they're more likely to attack." The dogs got closer, barking and growling loudly. Tristan cringed. "Calm, calm, stay calm. . . ."  
  
"Are you trying to convince yourself or me?" Tea asked.  
  
"Both of us," Tristan replied, "but mostly me!"  
  
The dogs came right up to Tristan and Tea, sniffing them over.  
  
"Stay cool, stay cool . . ." Tristan gulped, frozen to the spot.  
  
"Boris! Natasha! Stop that!" a woman's voice rang out sternly. The dogs obeyed, turning to look at the woman for further instructions. "Sit," she ordered.  
  
The two teens relaxed. "Thanks a million!" Tristan said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Are you Ms. Peggy Flemming?"  
  
"Why, yes, I am," the woman replied, surprised. She seemed to be in her early sixties, and was wearing a stylish business suit with an attractive pin on the lapel. Her graying hair was cropped short to her head, and her green eyes had a certain sparkle behind her glasses. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Why, yes, actually," Tristan said, glancing at Tea for help.  
  
"We're . . . um . . . reporters with a school paper, and we're writing an article about the Flemming family," Tea spoke up.  
  
"Oh," Ms. Flemming said, nodding. "And you wish to interview me, is that correct?"  
  
"That's right," Tea smiled.  
  
"Well, come on in then," Ms. Flemming said, holding the door open for them. Tristan and Tea entered and stood wide-eyed in the parlor, seeing the many extravagant statues and knick-knacks. They talked for several minutes about the Flemming family and her great-uncle Royce until Ms. Flemming changed the subject suddenly.  
  
"I trust that you two have heard about the robbery," she sighed.  
  
"Yes we did. We're very sorry it had to happen," Tea said.  
  
Ms. Flemming nodded in acknowledgment. "The burglars obviously knew exactly what they wanted. They only took some very old letters written by my great-uncle, and ignored everything else, which surely would have been worth more to them."  
  
"That's so weird," Tristan said.  
  
"I just can't imagine what value those letters would have to them at all," Ms. Flemming sighed.  
  
"Do you know what was in the letters?" Tea asked curiously.  
  
"Unfortunately, no," Ms. Flemming replied. "They were all in French, a language which I have never mastered. I did have a friend start to translate them for me a year or so ago, but he died mysteriously before the work was completed."  
  
"I'm sorry," Tea said softly.  
  
There was a brief silence, then Tristan spoke up, "Ms. Flemming, was your great-uncle really as ruthless as everyone seems to think?"  
  
"Tristan!" Tea scolded.  
  
"No, no, it's quite alright," Ms. Flemming said, waving her hand dismissively. "He really was quite ruthless, from what my mother told me," she sighed. "He did almost anything to succeed. Since his death many years ago and the recent unpleasant discoveries of several skeletons in his closet, not to mention the recent conviction of Royce's great-grandson for embezzlement, us Flemmings have been working hard to restore our family's reputation."  
  
"I hope you'll succeed," Tea said.  
****  
When Yugi and the others reached the kitchen, they stopped short in horror. Someone had strung up a cloth dummy hanging by a rope from the ceiling, dripping red with a familiar red ink. Betty was sitting in a nearby chair, shaking.  
  
"Whoa, now that's just not funny," Joey said, slamming his fist into his palm.  
  
"Betty, what happened?" Yugi asked the elderly woman, concerned.  
  
"I just came in here to start fixing dinner and . . . I saw this . . . thing," Betty replied, slowly standing up. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she was getting angry. "Who would dare to put this up?!" she demanded.  
  
"Look! There's a message pinned to it with a knife," Bakura exclaimed.  
  
Yugi went over and snatched it down. "'The dead hold many secrets. Stop now before you join them,'" he read.  
  
Betty's eyes narrowed angrily. "Who would dare to threaten me?! I have just about had enough of this outrageous nonsense!"  
  
"So have we," Seto Kaiba said, clenching his fist.  
  
"We're gonna get to the bottom of this," Joey promised.  
  
"Should we call the police?" Bakura asked.  
  
"Oh, why bother?" Betty sighed. "I don't really see what good it would do at this point."  
  
"In that case, we'll help you get this thing down, Betty," Yugi offered.  
  
"And we should fingerprint the knife," Bakura said.  
  
"I doubt very much that the mastermind behind all this would leave fingerprints," Seto remarked.  
  
"Probably not," Yugi agreed with a sigh, "but we have to try something."  
****  
Bakura wandered down the hall, confused. How had he gotten lost? He had been heading for the library to find the book Carl had been showing them the other day, but somehow he must've taken a wrong turn, because he found himself going down a hallway he didn't even know existed.  
  
Suddenly he stopped, leaning against the wall, his heart beating wildly. He had heard voices, familiar voices!  
  
"You're late," a man's voice said accusingly.  
  
"Hey, I was busy," a woman's voice replied. "I sure gave that old fussbudget a scare with that hangman dummy," she laughed.  
  
"Yes, but unfortunately tho, it wasn't good enough. Those meddling kids still aren't leaving," the man grumbled. "We need to create another very, very bad 'accident' for someone."  
  
"We've already been doing that," the woman said angrily. "Nothing's worked."  
  
"Well, we'll just have to try again, won't we?" the man cackled nastily. "And make absolutely certain that it's permanent this time."  
  
"They'll have to shut the place down," the woman said gleefully.  
  
Bakura gasped. He was overhearing the criminals talking, and they were planning to . . . to . . .  
  
He turned away. He had to warn Yugi and the others!  
  
Suddenly a cold chill came over him and he turned around slowly, his brown eyes wide and afraid. The two he'd heard plotting were now standing right behind him. "It's you!" he gasped. "But why?"  
  
"You know too much already," the woman smirked. "We're not about to let you know any more." She produced what looked suspiciously like a hypodermic needle.  
  
Bakura gasped. "What are you going to do to me?"  
  
The man grabbed the frightened boy and restrained him tightly. "We won't get rid of you just yet," he growled. "You're just going to take a nice nap."  
  
Bakura fought in vain against his captors as the woman jabbed him in the neck with the needle. "Somebody! Help!" he screamed. "Yami!!" His yami hadn't been in the Ring, or he would've taken over and prevented these two dastardly villains from drugging me, Bakura thought to himself as he sank into oblivion. 


	11. Underground Tomb

"Did you hear something?" Tea gasped. She and Tristan had returned a couple of hours before, and they were all in the den discussing the day's events.  
  
"I did," Yugi said grimly. "It was Bakura." He stood up, ready to dash down the hall in search of the silver-haired boy.  
  
"He's in trouble!" Tea exclaimed.  
  
"I think the scream came from this direction," Joey said, pointing to the right. Everyone ran down the winding hallway until they reached the end, where it branched off again to the left and to the right.  
  
"Well, there's no one here now," Yugi stated, looking around.  
  
"But they were here," Seto remarked, bending to pick something up. "Look at this."  
  
"What is it?" They all gathered around to look.  
  
"It's some kind of pin or cameo," Seto replied, turning it over and over in his hand.  
  
"A pin!" Tea took it and stared at it. "It looks familiar."  
  
"Someone must've taken Bakura and he pulled this off their clothing," Yugi deduced grimly.  
  
"But why would they take Bakura?" Tea fretted.  
  
"He knew too much," Seto replied, his dark blue eyes narrowing. He sounded as though he himself had been a victim of that problem before, which he had. "He probably found out who the villains are and they abducted him to keep him quiet."  
  
"Poor Bakura," Tea said softly. "We have to find him!"  
  
"We will, Tea," Yugi assured her.  
  
"It might already be too late," Seto said grimly. "Last year someone was embezzling money from my company. I investigated and discovered who it was. . . . And I barely escaped with my life."  
  
"Don't say such things, Kaiba!" Tea scolded, realizing what he was insinuating.  
  
"Actually, I'm afraid he has a point," Yugi sighed. "These people have proved themselves to be ruthless and cruel. However . . ." He paused. "We have to cling to the hope that Bakura is still alive. After all, his Yami isn't about to let anything happen to him if he can at all help it. We have to pray that he'll keep Bakura safe until we can find him."  
  
"So . . . how do we go about this, Yugi?" Joey asked.  
  
"We need to get the word out that he's missing," Yugi replied. "The more people who know sooner, the better his chances will be. Then we need to start looking everywhere, in the manor, on the grounds, and up in the surrounding canyons. We don't have any time to loose."  
****  
"Bakura! Bakura, you dolt. Wake up!"  
  
The unconscious boy slowly returned to awareness, feeling himself being shaken roughly. What had happened? Who was shaking him? Why couldn't he remember?  
  
"Bakura! Drat it, wake up!"  
  
Finally the boy was able to place the voice as that of his Yami. "Yami?" he rasped. "You . . . you came."  
  
"Of course I came, you dolt," Yami Bakura snapped. "You have my Millennium Ring."  
  
"Where are we?" Bakura asked, opening his eyes and blinking rapidly.  
  
"Somewhere in the canyons," Yami Bakura replied vaguely. "They left you in this shack. They're coming back later to set you up with an 'accident.' I have to get you out of here before they do. You've been asleep for hours," he said crossly.  
  
Then Bakura remembered what had happened. He had heard the villains talking . . . they had grabbed him. . . . "They drugged me," he said, shakily trying to get up.  
  
"I know, you dolt." Yami Bakura took hold of Bakura's hand and lifted him up. "Now come on. I have to get you far away from here."  
  
"I have to warn Yugi and the others," Bakura said weakly, leaning heavily on his Yami. "Those people want to get rid of them . . . for good."  
  
"I don't care who you warn," Yami Bakura snapped. "Just as long as you get out of here alive. Now come on." He opened the door and half-dragged Bakura out through it.  
  
Bakura blinked, looking up at the cloudy night sky. "How far are we from the resort?"  
  
"Oh heavens, I don't know," Yami Bakura growled. "We're out in the middle of nowhere, I can tell you that. We're probably days from any civilization."  
  
"We have to get back to the resort," Bakura said with determination. "I can't let those people hurt my friends and the others!"  
  
"Just as long as you get far away from here," Yami Bakura said grouchily, staying close to the boy as the snow started to fall. "Now keep talking to me so I know you're still here. It's going to be a long walk back, and it's going to be cold."  
  
Bakura nodded numbly. "Alright." The drug had made him quite weak, and he was afraid that a blizzard was coming up because of the snow's increasing ferocity as it fell from the sky. He prayed that Yugi and the others would be safe.  
****  
"There's a blizzard coming," Carl noticed, looking out the window in the den. He had called the police about Bakura's abduction, and the officers had informed him that if the boy wasn't found by morning, the resort would have to be closed down immediately.  
  
"I hope Bakura's not out in it," Tristan muttered.  
  
"We'd better start looking for him again," Yugi said. "He's not on the first or second floors. We still need to check the top floors and the basement." After checking those first two floors, they had met back in the den to decide what to do next.  
  
"And no one will be alone," Carl said sternly. "Everyone will travel in pairs or even groups of three."  
  
"I'm going to help again," Seto said.  
  
"I want to help look some more too, big brother," Mokuba declared.  
  
Seto ruffled his brother's hair. "You can, Mokuba. In light of everything that's happened, I don't want to leave you somewhere by yourself, so you're staying with me. I'll feel more at ease knowing where you are every minute."  
  
Mokuba grinned. "Alright!" he crowed, hugging Seto.  
  
Under Carl's direction, everyone was soon split into their individual groups. Yugi, Tea, and Tristan went to look upstairs, while Joey went down in the basement with the Kaiba brothers. Carl would take Rocco and Kevin and search the grounds.  
  
"Poor Bakura," Tea said softly as they split up. "I sure hope he's okay, wherever he is."  
****  
"Whoa, it's dark down here," Joey commented as they descended the stone steps.  
  
"I hope you brought a flashlight, Wheeler," Seto said dryly, switching on one of his own.  
  
"Hey, I'm not some amateur," Joey grumbled, pulling out his flashlight and clicking it on. "I've explored dark basements before."  
  
"Wow, it's a mess down here," Mokuba commented, shining his flashlight over boxes and crates that had once contained various ski equipment.  
  
"Well, now we know where they keep their trash," Joey grinned in a smart-alecky way, leaning against the wall, which suddenly opened and swallowed him up. "Yaaaaaa!" he screamed as he disappeared from sight.  
  
"Where did he go, big brother?" Mokuba asked, wide-eyed.  
  
"I don't know," Seto replied, "but I have a hunch that the wall's hollow and that there's some kind of tunnel on the other side." With that, the older Kaiba pressed on the wall where Joey had. In the next instant he too was gone, pulling Mokuba with him.   
  
"Hang on, Mokuba," Seto said as they plummeted through empty space. "I think we're in for a wild ride." He felt an odd sense of deja vu, remembering when he and Yugi had fallen down a long tunnel in that virtual reality game a while back.  
  
"I'm not scared, big brother," Mokuba said with a smile, holding on to his hand tightly.  
  
After what seemed like ages, the brothers finally crashed down on something hard. They remained frozen for several seconds before falling off and to the floor a foot or two below.  
  
"What did we land on, big brother?" Mokuba wondered.  
  
Seto slowly picked himself up off the floor and felt around for his flashlight. "I'm not sure, Mokuba," he said, clicking it on and shining it at the thing that had broken their fall. He gasped. "It's . . . a coffin," he declared.  
  
"A coffin?!" Mokuba exclaimed.  
  
Suddenly a banging sound came from inside.  
  
The Kaiba brothers froze. "What the . . ." Seto glared at the casket suspiciously.  
  
"Big brother! It's alive!" Mokuba cried.  
  
"Hmm . . . I wonder . . ." Purposefully Seto strode up to the coffin and raised the lid.  
  
"Big brother!" Mokuba gasped. "What are you doing??!"  
  
Slowly a form rose from the casket, coughing and gasping for air.  
  
"Just as I thought," Seto laughed. "It's Joseph Wheeler, moonlighting as a vampyre."  
  
"Oh, haha," Joey grumbled.  
  
"How did you get in there?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"The lid was open and I kinda fell in," Joey said angrily.  
  
"Open, huh? Why would the lid of an ancient coffin be open?" Seto wondered, looking at the rotting skeleton inside that Joey had intruded upon. No way would this have just been left open for years upon years. "Hmm . . . someone besides us has been in here recently."  
  
"Where is here, anyway?" Joey wondered.  
  
Seto and Mokuba shined their flashlights around. "We're in some kind of weird room," Mokuba said.  
  
"Not just any weird room," Seto interjected. "It's a tomb . . . a mausoleum."  
  
"What?! Oh man!" Joey cried, freaking out.  
  
"Look at it this way, Wheeler—unless the other recent visitors also used the express route in the ceiling, there has to be another way out," Seto said.  
  
"Hey, I knew that," Joey said defensively.  
  
Seto only laughed.  
****  
Yami Bakura struggled to see through the blinding blizzard. "We have to keep moving," he growled. They had been working their way through the snow-capped canyons all night and a good portion of this morning. Well, he assumed it was morning anyway, because the cloud-covered sky seemed a bit lighter than it had when they'd first started out. The snow, however, showed no signs of letting up.  
  
And Bakura was getting weaker by the minute.  
  
"Yami . . . I can't go on," he gasped, falling forward into the swirling white drifts.  
  
"You dolt . . . of course you can!" Yami Bakura grumbled, pulling the boy to his feet. He normally would've just taken over for him completely, except that now, with that drug still in the boy's system, it would probably be too dangerous . . . for the both of them. So instead he was walking alongside Bakura, trying to guide him through the snow.  
  
They stumbled on for another while before Bakura collapsed again. This time his Yami had to shake him before he responded.  
  
"Yami . . . I'm too weak," he moaned, shivering.  
  
"Dolt . . . don't just give up." Yami Bakura once again pulled the boy up.  
  
"I'm not . . . giving up," Bakura choked out. "I just know . . . when I'm beaten." He slumped against his Yami, knocking him off-balance. "Yami . . . you have to warn Yugi and the others," he pleaded. "Please . . . promise me you'll warn them."  
  
"I'll promise no such thing," Yami Bakura growled. "You'll warn them yourself, you dolt."  
  
Bakura smiled sadly and tiredly. "Yami . . . I'm sorry," he rasped. He sank into the snow for the third time in the last few minutes.  
  
"You dolt . . . get up!" Yami Bakura snapped. Not receiving any answer, he knelt down in the snow next to the boy and shook him again. Still no response. "Bakura . . . get up, you stupid dolt!" he yelled in frustration.  
  
He pulled the boy's limp body out of the snow and stared at him. His brown eyes were closed, and there was a deathly bluish cast to his face. Upon checking, Yami Bakura could find no signs of life. Bakura didn't seem to be breathing, nor did he appear to have a pulse.  
  
"Bakura! Wake up!! Wake up!!" Yami Bakura screamed angrily, trying to conceal his worry. The boy's flesh felt like ice. He had been exposed to the cold and the snow for much too long.  
  
Well, this was just great, the Yami thought to himself sarcastically. He was in the middle of nowhere, with no idea of which direction to go in, and Bakura was now either comatose or . . .  
  
He sighed, gathering the boy's lifeless body into his arms. What was he going to do? 


	12. Bakura is Found

Note: I don't write slash ;) Keep that in mind ^^  
  
  
"I don't see any sign of Bakura anywhere," Tea said worriedly.  
  
"Something tells me he's not in the manor here at all, or even anywhere on the estate," Yugi said grimly as they left the last room on the fourth floor.  
  
"Hey guys!"  
  
They turned at the sound of DeeDee's voice. "I heard about Bakura," she said softly. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"We're going to find him," Tristan said determinedly.  
  
"Can I help look?"  
  
"Sure," Yugi agreed. "We need all the help we can get."  
  
"I just can't believe these people," DeeDee said angrily. "They're seriously demented to go off abducting a kid like that."  
  
"I wish we knew who's behind everything," Yugi sighed.  
  
"Are you close to narrowing down your suspect list?" DeeDee asked.  
  
"Unfortunately, no," Yugi said. "We haven't come up with any motives at all."  
  
"Well, I hope this all gets resolved soon," DeeDee said with a sigh, turning around to head off down the hall. "I'm going to go look for Bakura outside on the slopes."  
  
"Good idea," Yugi said.  
****  
"I wish someone could explain to me what a mausoleum is doin' under Carl's ski lodge," Joey grumbled, as he and the Kaiba brothers searched for a door. "Hey, what's this?" He pushed on a part of the wall that seemed a little bit looser than the rest and a huge slab creaked open.  
  
"Nice work," Seto congratulated. "You found the door."  
  
"Hey, alright!" Joey crowed cockily. "Everybody out!"  
  
"And be careful," Seto warned. "We don't know what's out there." He took Mokuba's hand protectively.  
  
The trio cautiously walked out of the strange tomb, shining their flashlights at their new surroundings.  
  
"It's a tunnel," Mokuba announced.  
  
"Well, there's only one way to find out where it leads," Joey said boldly, walking on ahead of the others. He disappeared around a corner and the others heard an abrupt splash.  
  
"What was that?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Two guesses," Seto replied. They quickly came up to the corner as well, and found Joey climbing out of a deep dip in the path, which was filled with water. "A little chilly for a swim, isn't it, Wheeler?" Seto said with a laugh.  
  
Joey grumbled to himself, wringing his jacket out. "What a dumb place for a swimming pool!" he said angrily.  
  
"Where would the water come from?" Mokuba wondered.  
  
"From up there," Seto said suddenly, pointing at a long crack over the concavity. "When the snow melts, it falls down through this crack and into this depression. Eventually it fills the whole thing up."  
  
"And presto! A swimming pool in winter!" Joey remarked.  
  
"Exactly," Seto agreed.  
  
"That must mean that we're no longer under the lodge," Mokuba deduced.  
  
"Yeah, but then where are we?" Joey demanded.  
  
"As you yourself said, Wheeler, there's only one way to find out," Seto said, stepping over the depression. "But a word to the wise—be more careful this time."  
  
Joey muttered angrily to himself as he trailed after Seto and Mokuba, who were climbing some stone steps.  
  
"Hmm . . . look at this." Seto stopped in front of a straight line of light. "There must be a door here."  
  
"Well, what're we waitin' for? Let's get outta here!" Joey said impatiently.  
  
Seto pushed against the slab of stone. "I think it's locked from the outside," he said. "That makes sense."  
  
"Locked from the outside? Oh man," Joey grumbled.  
  
"It's either locked or stuck," Seto mused. "Give me a hand, Wheeler."  
  
The two boys struggled to open the panel, and Mokuba lent his assistance as well.  
  
"This isn't working," Joey said in frustration.  
  
Seto paused, looking at the doors thoughtfully. "Hang on. I think I can get us out of here yet." He opened his briefcase and pulled out a screwdriver.  
  
"What're you gonna do with that dinky thing?" Joey asked, blinking in confusion.  
  
"I'm going to see how tough those hinges are," Seto replied with a crooked smile. After a bit of a battle with the rusting hinges, he was finally able to pry them away, and the door swung open noisily.  
  
"Alright! We're finally free!" Joey crowed, punching the air as they climbed out into the swirling blizzard.  
  
"Where are we?" Mokuba wondered.  
  
"On the grounds somewhere," Seto replied. "See, there's the manor over there."  
  
"Maybe this thing we just came out of was the Flemming family mausoleum," Mokuba suggested.  
  
Abruptly the sound of a snowmobile ripped through the air.  
  
"Whoa! Check it out!" Joey said, impressed as the snowmobile swerved around a pine tree. "Maybe this is Bridges' machine."  
  
Sure enough it was—and this time he had passengers.  
  
"Boys, run on up to the lodge and tell Carl that we have a young man here who's been seriously exposed to the cold," Bridges said gravely, removing his helmet. "He might be dead. We can't tell."  
  
They glanced in the back of the snowmobile and started. "Yami Bakura!" Joey gasped.  
  
The ancient tomb robber looked up, a fire in his eyes. "Go. Tell them now," he ordered. He was holding Bakura's lifeless body in his arms.  
  
"What happened to him?" Mokuba asked, his eyes wide.  
  
"Don't ask questions! Go!" Yami Bakura growled.  
  
Quickly the three turned and ran for the manor. Bursting in through the large double doors, they found Yugi and the others in the lobby.  
  
"Where were you guys?" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
"You've been gone all night," Tea scolded.  
  
"We were about to organize a search party to look for all of you," Tristan added.  
  
"Talk later," Seto said grimly. "We found Bakura."  
  
"Or rather, Bridges, who actually found him, found us," Joey said.  
  
"How is he?" Tea demanded to know.  
  
Joey lowered his eyes. "Not good."  
  
"He's been frozen almost to the point of death," Seto said grimly.  
  
"He might even be dead," Mokuba added softly.  
  
"What?" Everyone gasped.  
  
"Bridges is bringing him here," Joey said. "We've gotta get him warmed up."  
  
Yugi nodded. "And fast!"  
  
That's when the door opened a second time and Yami Bakura entered, carrying poor Bakura's lifeless body. "Help him," he said, his tone almost pleading. "Help him now, because I cannot. I don't want him to die."  
  
Yugi took a deep breath. Bakura did look pretty far gone. But he couldn't be . . . dead yet . . . could he? "Lay him on the couch and start a fire," he directed, summoning his Yami. "Is he breathing?"  
  
"I think he is now," Yami Bakura replied. "But it's very shallow."  
  
Yugi knelt next to Bakura's still form, checking for life-signs. "His heart's still beating," he said. "It's rather faint, but it's beating." He turned to Joey and Seto. "Go find Carl. We might need his help. He used to be a doctor before he retired to work full-time here at the lodge."  
  
"You can count on us, Yug," Joey said, and he and Kaiba disappeared down the hall.  
  
"How long has he been like this?" Tea rubbed the boy's ice-cold hands, trying desperately to get him to respond.  
  
"I couldn't say. An hour, maybe more." Yami Bakura sounded so lost, so different from his usual commanding, nasty self.  
  
"Tell us what happened," Yugi told Yami Bakura as he wrapped Bakura in a blanket.  
  
"I heard him calling to me," Yami Bakura replied, his eyes narrowing. "Those people stuck the dolt with some kind of needle and took him to a shack in the canyon, where they left him until they could set him up with an 'accident.' I was finally able to bring him around and I got him away from there. If he had died on me, it would've been very inconvenient," he growled.  
  
He paused in his narrative. "How is he?" he asked.  
  
Yugi looked up. "I think the color is starting to return to his face." He smiled. "He just might pull through yet."  
  
Yami Bakura relaxed. "He wanted to warn you that those pieces of snail slime are going to strike again," he grunted.  
  
"Did you see who they were?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I don't know their names," Yami Bakura replied. "But they looked ridiculous! There was a man and a woman . . ."  
  
Before he could go on to further describe them, Joey and Kaiba returned with Carl, who immediately went to examine Bakura.  
  
"Eh, sorry it took so long," Joey said apologetically. "We couldn't find him for ages."  
  
"Well, if you'd just taken my advice," Seto said dryly, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Joey muttered something that sounded like, "I don't havta take advice from you," and threw a mock punch, which Kaiba promptly intercepted.  
  
"You're lucky that you weren't really trying to punch me, Wheeler, or I would've treated you to another judo flip," Seto muttered.  
  
"Alright, cool it, you two," Tea ordered. She turned to Carl. "How is he, Carl?" she asked worriedly.  
  
Carl smiled. "I can tell you kids must have paid attention in your first aid courses. He was pretty far gone when Mr. Bridges found him, I'm told, but I do believe he'll live, thanks to your quick thinking . . . not to mention Bakura's strong will to keep living." He paused. "He might be unconscious for a while yet, tho. Just be sure to keep him warm and calm."  
  
"Don't worry, we certainly will," Tea said, relieved.  
  
"Do you think we should call an ambulance?" Tristan wondered.  
  
Carl paused. "Let's wait and see. If he takes a turn for the worse we should, but right now his condition seems to have stabilized and I don't really think we should move him." He regarded Yami Bakura curiously. The last time he had seen the ancient thief, he had been drunk on apple cider crooning Elvis tunes. "Who are you really?" he asked.  
  
Now that Yami Bakura knew that Bakura would likely be alright, he grinned somewhat nastily and laughed. "I don't think you really want to know."  
  
"Uh, he's always jokin'," Joey tried to interject.  
  
Carl shrugged. "Well, I'll be out chopping firewood if you need me." With that he left.  
  
Yami Bakura sat in a chair next to Bakura. "So what do we do now? Just wait?"  
  
"I think that's really all we can do," Yugi said. He paused. "One thing I'm very surprised about is that he doesn't have frostbite. That often accompanies a prolonged exposure to cold. All in all, I would say Bakura has been very lucky."  
  
"How did Mr. Bridges find you guys?" Tea asked.  
  
"He was out on his snowmobile and happened to stumble upon us," Yami Bakura replied. "Lucky for this dolt, it was shortly after he'd passed out on me. We weren't very close to the resort, but the old man brought us here."  
  
"What would Mr. Bridges be doing so far from the resort?" Tea wondered.  
  
"Maybe going to rendezvous with his secret girlfriend?" Joey grinned.  
  
"What did the people who abducted Bakura look like?" Yugi asked.  
  
"I think they were both in disguise," Yami Bakura said, "because they looked absolutely ridiculous! The man had dark glasses and an obviously fake mustache and the woman had a floppy hat and red wig. Somehow Bakura must have known their real identities," he mused.  
  
"Well, until he wakes up and can tell us, what do we do?" Joey wondered. "If they're still at large, they'll probably strike again, like Yami B. here said."  
  
"We'll have to go on another room search," Yugi said, "and see if we can find those disguises."  
  
"And fast," Tea said grimly. "Before they try anything else. Bakura would want us to catch them." She looked at Bakura, who was silent and still. She noticed with relief that he seemed to be breathing easier.  
  
"I'll stay with him," Yami Bakura growled, laying a hand protectively on the unconscious boy's shoulder. "I have no intention of leaving him, not as long as I still need his assistance." He sneered.  
  
"Well, alright, then," Yugi said. "Let's do it!"  
  
With that, he, Tea, Joey, Tristan, and the Kaiba brothers headed out to solve the mystery once and for all. 


	13. The Plot Thickens

"How are we going to do this, Yugi?" Tea asked. "We don't have any time to waste!"  
  
"Yeah, they could be setting a trap right now," Joey added.  
  
"I know," Yugi said gravely. "I know all too well." ~Yami, what are we going to do? This is really serious. Bakura could've died!~  
  
**I know. He was incredibly blessed,** Yami Yugi answered. **Yugi, here's something to think about—have you investigated everyone here?**  
  
~Everyone here?~ Yugi repeated. ~Wait! . . .~ "Guys, we need to find Carl!"  
  
"Carl?" everyone repeated. "Don't tell me you suspect him!" Tea gasped.  
  
Yugi shook his head. "No, but he needs to tell us about the employees. Do all of them live here?"  
  
"Good question," Joey said. "I don't remember checking Rocco's and DeeDee's rooms."  
  
"That's because we didn't," Yugi said. "They probably don't have rooms here."  
  
"So that means we need to find where they do live, so we can check their places for incriminating evidence!" Joey deduced.  
  
"That's right! Come on!" Yugi led the way down the hall to the office door and knocked. "Carl must still be chopping wood," he mused.  
  
"Well then, why not just go in and check the records?" Tristan suggested.  
  
"Good idea!" Yugi said. "We've got no time to waste!"  
  
With a smirk, Seto produced a flat-edged screwdriver and stuck it in the door crack, releasing the lock. "Alright, we're in!" he announced.  
  
Quickly they made their way to the filing cabinet and Tea and Yugi browsed through it. "Here's the Employee file!" Tea held it up and opened it. "That's strange," she said after a while.  
  
"What?" Joey asked, looking up from the desk drawer he was pawing through.  
  
"There's no information on Rocco," Tea said. "Here's the papers for DeeDee and Kevin, but anything about Rocco that was here is missing!"  
  
"Missing?" Yugi repeated.  
  
"Perhaps it's 'missing' on purpose," Seto suggested.  
  
"If it is, that must mean there's something in it that we ain't supposed to see," Joey decided.  
  
"Everyone, look for any information on Rocco," Tea directed.  
  
The following search turned up no results.  
  
"What now, Yugi?" Tristan asked.  
  
"Well, we've got DeeDee's and Kevin's addresses," Yugi replied, "so let's go see what we can find at their places."  
  
"But what about Rocco?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"If we can find Carl quickly, maybe we can ask him," Yugi said as they left the office and went outside through a back door.  
****  
Yami Bakura watched the motionless boy impatiently. Would he ever wake up? It had been ages ago when Bakura had fainted on the mountain, and they had been back at the lodge for at least two hours now.  
  
"Oh, wake up, will you!" Yami Bakura exploded in frustration. He was still worried about the boy—not that he would ever admit it to anyone—and he wanted to know for certain that he would be okay. With a sigh, he looked at the boy's disgustingly innocent face and resigned himself to a longer wait before Bakura revived. Was he going soft? He brushed the thought aside angrily. Of course he wasn't.  
****  
"Tristan, are you sure this is going to work?"  
  
"Of course," Tristan replied. He and Tea were climbing up a rickety ladder into DeeDee's second floor window. Once inside, they would proceed to go downstairs and unlock the front door for the others. "What could go wrong?"  
  
At that minute, the next rung snapped when he placed his hand on it and he flailed wildly before grabbing onto the nearby window ledge.  
  
"That, for instance," Tea said after a long silence.  
  
"Are you guys alright?" Yugi called worriedly from the ground.  
  
"We're fine," Tea called back, following Tristan in through the open window.  
  
"I wish someone could explain the logic of keeping your window open in the middle of winter," Joey remarked as he walked around to the front of the house, along with Yugi, Seto, and Mokuba.  
  
Tea opened the door. "Everybody in!" she said. "We'll have to hurry."  
  
"Maybe some of us should go check Kevin's house," Joey suggested.  
  
"Good idea," Yugi said. "We don't have any time to loose. Tea, why don't you go with Kaiba and Mokuba, and Joey, Tristan, and I'll stay here. Then we'll meet at Rocco's house in an hour. If any of us don't make it there after two hours, you'll know something happened to us."  
  
"Alright," Tea agreed, and she and the Kaiba brothers quickly departed.  
  
"So now what, Yug?" Joey asked.  
  
"Just walk around and look for anything suspicious," Yugi replied. "And we have to hurry. We never know when DeeDee might return, or worse, when the villains might try to hurt someone else."  
  
"How could DeeDee really be part of this, tho?" Tristan wondered aloud. "After all, she was the victim of one of those 'accidents' too."  
  
"Yeah," Joey said. "Unless she's totally nuts, I can't imagine she'd actually cut her own skis. She almost got creamed!"  
  
"That puzzles me too," Yugi said. "But it still doesn't rule her out. She wouldn't be the first to fake an accident on herself to throw suspicion away from her. She could've simply climbed over the cliff instead of fallling over."  
  
"But all those people were there," Joey protested, opening the hall closet. "They would've seen her."  
  
"Maybe they didn't come until after Kevin screamed that she was falling over," Tristan suggested.  
  
Yugi nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking." He paused, gasping.  
  
"What is it, Yug? What do you see?" Joey asked curiously.  
  
"Look at this." Yugi reached into the back of the closet and pulled out a floppy hat.  
  
"Whoa! That's like the hat Bakura's Yami described," Joey exclaimed.  
  
"Does that mean DeeDee *is* the woman he saw?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"Not necessarily," Yugi replied. "Remember the open window? Maybe someone came and planted the hat here to frame DeeDee!"  
  
"Oh man." Joey ran a hand through his blonde hair in frustration. "We're not gettin' anywhere!"  
  
"Let's keep looking," Yugi said. He opened a desk drawer and leafed through some letters.  
  
"Hey, what's that?" Tristan asked, pointing to a beat-up envelope. "This one looks older than the others."  
  
"You're right, Tristan," Yugi said, taking the envelope out and opening it. A legal-looking document fell out. "This is dated eight years ago. It says that DeeDee legally changed her last name to Banks when she was eighteen."  
  
"Well, what was it before?" Joey wondered, coming over.  
  
"You'll never believe it," Yugi replied. "Flemming!"  
  
Joey blinked. "No way!" He grabbed the document. "Why would she change it?"  
  
"Maybe she didn't want the Flemming name," Tristan suggested. "Peggy Flemming told Tea and me that she was working hard to repair the family name after the damage that Royce and his great-grandson did to it."  
  
"That might be it," Yugi agreed.  
  
"More questions, no answers!" Joey moaned. "I hope Tea and the others are havin' better luck."  
****  
"Watch it, Kaiba!" Tea scolded, trying to shield the boy from passers-by. "Someone's going to see you're picking the lock!"  
  
"Not if you and Mokuba can conceal me for another minute or two," Seto grumbled. "This lock is proving very difficult to crack."  
  
"The next-door neighbor is looking!" Tea hissed.  
  
"And she looks like one of those gossipy ladies," Mokuba added.  
  
At that moment, they heard a dull click. "Alright. We're in!" Kaiba grinned, pushing the door open. "Ladies first," he said, stepping aside and gesturing for Tea to enter.  
  
Tea looked around at the dark parlor curiously as she walked inside. "I wonder why the blinds are all closed? It's the middle of the day!"  
  
"Maybe he never opens them," Mokuba suggested. "Or maybe he just closes them when he's not home."  
  
"But why would he want so much secrecy?" Tea wondered.  
  
Seto wandered over to the answering machine, its flashing red light announcing the arrival of one or more messages. He pressed the button. "You have one new message," the machine intoned.  
  
There was a pause, then a gruff voice came on. "Hey, Kevin, I got your message. We need to wrap this thing up. Don't try to be a hero. When you find out who's doing this, call me."  
  
There was a beep, then, "End of messages."  
  
"What *was* that?" Tea wondered.  
  
"It sounds like he's some kind of agent," Mokuba remarked.  
  
"You watch too many detective shows, Mokuba," Tea replied.  
  
"Well, what do you think he is?" Mokuba shot back.  
  
"That didn't exactly sound like a message from one ski lift operator to another," Seto mused dryly. "But what would an agent want out at that ski lodge?"  
  
"That's what doesn't make sense," Tea sighed.  
  
Suddenly they heard a click. "Don't move," a cold voice growled. "I've got a gun."  
  
"What? What are you doing?" Tea demanded.  
  
"Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly," the voice snapped.  
  
They complied. Standing before them was Kevin, holding a nasty-looking firearm pointed right at them!  
****  
Yami Bakura sighed, checking the clock. He had learned to be grudgingly patient during his long quest for the Millennium Items, but he still didn't like it.  
  
"Bakura?" He poked the boy on the shoulder. "Can you hear me?" He sighed again. "You dolt . . . why did you have to go get captured? You are seriously wasting my time . . . and my patience."  
  
Bakura shuddered, but didn't awaken.  
  
"Oh, just wake up, drat it," Yami Bakura growled, running his hands through his spiky silver hair in frustration. The boy was too young to die.  
  
He paused, an expression of distaste spreading across his face. Maybe he *was* turning soft.  
  
Bakura moaned suddenly, subconsciously pulling the blanket up over his head.  
  
Yami Bakura yanked it down again. "Imbecile. What are you trying to do? Suffocate yourself?"  
  
Bakura lapsed into silence again. Suddenly his eyes fluttered open and he looked around, confused. "Am I dead?" he asked softly.  
  
"Not on my watch," Yami Bakura growled, hiding his relief.  
  
Bakura blinked, trying to focus. "Yami?" he asked finally.  
  
"Of course it's me. Who else?" Yami Bakura crossed his arms, looking at the young boy, his face expressionless and unreadable—which was just what he wanted. "You were frozen alive, but I'm told you'll be alright now." He paused. "Your friends were quite worried about you, of course."  
  
"And I suppose you weren't?" Bakura said quietly, slowly sitting up.  
  
Yami Bakura's eyes narrowed. "Dolt. Of course I was worried about you. I can't let you die on me now; that would be much too inconvenient."  
  
Bakura sighed to himself. Of course.  
  
His eyes widened. "Where are Yugi and the others? Are they alright? You did warn them, didn't you, Yami?" He looked at the Egyptian thief, silently pleading for him to say yes.  
  
Yami Bakura gently pushed Bakura back against the couch. "I don't know where they are, but they were fine the last time I saw them, and yes, I did give them your message."  
  
Bakura relaxed, but only momentarily. "Have they gone to find the criminals?"  
  
"Yes, I think so," Yami Bakura replied.  
  
"We have to find them, Yami!" Bakura exclaimed, panic-stricken. "They're going to get hurt!"  
  
"You dolt! You were nearly frozen to death and just revived a moment ago, and now you're preparing to go off on some ridiculous rescue mission?!" Yami Bakura gripped the boy's shoulders. "What are you thinking?!"  
  
"I can't let them get hurt!" Bakura protested. "They're in danger!"  
  
"Bakura! Get a grip! You're still in danger yourself! You saw the criminals! You know their identities!"  
  
Before Bakura could say anything in reply, Yami Bakura growled in pain, clapping a hand to the back of his neck and collapsing to the floor.  
  
"Yami? What's wrong? Yami!" Bakura knelt down next to the ancient thief, concerned. He brushed aside the long, silvery locks and gasped, pulling a dart out of his Yami's neck. Looking up, the boy noticed a shadow running down the hall. "They must've thought my Yami was me!" he realized. "And what did they do to him?" He was pretty sure his Yami couldn't die, since he'd already died 5,000 years before in Egypt, but still the thought of someone shooting a dart at him made the boy's skin crawl.  
  
Shakily he opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a plastic bag, which he quickly dropped the dart into. He would have to have someone check it out to see if it was poisonous. He turned back to his Yami. "Oh dear. Oh dear, what do I do?" he fretted. "Yami, wake up! Oh please wake up!" If this was a normal person, he would call 911, but his Yami was hardly what he would call a normal person—he wasn't technically alive.  
  
Suddenly he froze. Someone was still there, watching him.  
  
"Who's there?" he called bravely, then tensely waited for an answer. 


	14. The Criminals are Revealed . . .?

Silence. Bakura could hear nothing except his wildly beating heart.  
  
"Who are you?" he called again, grabbing a nearby statue to use as defense.  
  
Still no reply. Quickly Bakura searched the room, turning up nothing. Maybe it had all been in his head. He idly wondered why the room seemed so quiet. Why wasn't anyone around? Shouldn't Betty be preparing to fix dinner about now?  
  
Shakily he sank into the depths of the couch cushions. He was afraid, very afraid, mostly for the safety of his friends. Where were they? Were they alright? Had they found out what he had—the identity of the criminals?  
  
He took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm and concentrate on rousing his Yami.  
  
As he knelt next to the tomb robber once again, he couldn't shake the feeling that he *was* being watched.  
****  
"Kevin! What are you doing with that thing?" Tea gasped.  
  
Kevin looked momentarily startled. "How do you know my name? I don't remember ever . . ." He trailed off, staring at the answering machine. "Never mind. Why did you break into my house?"  
  
"What makes you think we broke in?" Seto asked.  
  
"Maybe we saw someone else break in and we came in to catch him," Mokuba chimed in.  
  
Kevin laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "Nice try, but my neighbor said she saw you picking the lock," he said, pointing the gun in Seto's direction. "I don't like trespassers. What were you looking for?"  
  
"Actually, we were looking for evidence to tie you in with the hazardous goings-on at Mr. Swanson's ski lodge," Seto admitted boldly.  
  
"That's right," Tea agreed.  
  
"Shouldn't you leave that up to the police?" Kevin said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "You're just kids! Teenage kids!" He looked at Mokuba. "And you . . . you're even younger than them!"  
  
"My brother's the CEO of KaibaCorp!" Mokuba said defensively. "Nothing scares him!"  
  
"Can we put our hands down now?" Tea asked impatiently. "We're not armed."  
  
"Certainly. Go ahead." Kevin leaned the gun against the end table. "In my line of work, one can't be too careful."  
  
"If you don't mind our asking, what is your line of work?" Tea queried.  
  
"Ah, so you weren't investigating long enough to find out?" Kevin said sarcastically. "I'm Special Agent Kevin Tanner, FBI." He held out his badge for them to look at.  
  
"So I was right, you are an agent!" Mokuba said triumphantly.  
  
"But what are you doing at the lodge?" Tea asked. "Or is it confidential?"  
  
"I can't reveal all the details, but I'm chasing a ring of smugglers," Kevin replied.  
  
"You mean they're holed up at the lodge?" Tea exclaimed.  
  
"I believe so," Kevin said, "and the ringleader is the ski instructor Rocco Hardey!"  
  
"Rocco?" Tea repeated.  
  
"We thought it might be him," Mokuba said after a brief silence.  
  
"Your other friends are at DeeDee Banks' place, aren't they?" Kevin went on.  
  
Tea was about to reply when Seto laid a hand on her shoulder, sending her a strong warning with his intense blue eyes. "I . . . don't know," she said at last, which was technically true, since Yugi, Joey, and Tristan might have left DeeDee's by now, she thought to herself.  
  
"They're in danger," Kevin said gravely. "Come with me. We have to find them."  
  
"What kind of danger?" Tea asked suspiciously. Something didn't seem quite right.  
  
"No time for questions," Kevin said coldly. "Come on!"  
  
"We're not going with you," Seto replied, equally coldly. "You're not really an FBI agent."  
  
Kevin's eyes flashed. "Insolent boy. All your power has gone to your head. Of course I'm an agent!"  
  
"Oh, you're an agent alright," Seto agreed. "More than likely, you're a hit man hired to take us all out!" He protectively laid his hands on Mokuba's shoulders.  
  
Tea gasped, a new thought occurring to her. "Maybe you've already hurt Yugi and the others, and now you're here to get rid of us, too!" she said angrily. She didn't entirely understand how Kaiba had reached the conclusion that Kevin was a hit man, but she had the awful feeling that it was true, and that they were right now in serious danger.  
  
Kevin sneered. "You're right. I'm not FBI. Hey, I'm not even Kevin . . . not that you'll be around to tell anyone." He raised the firearm again.  
  
He wasn't counting on the swift action of his three prisoners. Mokuba suddenly darted between the tall man's legs, startling him, and leaving Seto free to karate-kick the gun out of his hand. Tea then hit the would-be assassin on the head with a vase, and he collapsed to the floor.  
  
"Good work," Seto congratulated. "He's down for the count. Let's tie him up and get the police here on the double!"  
  
"I sure hope Yugi and the others are okay," Tea said worriedly as she went to the phone.  
****  
Meanwhile, Yugi, Joey, and Tristan were having an encounter of their own.  
  
"What are you insolent shrimps doing in my house?!" DeeDee exploded, coming in and finding them all gathered around her desk.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, settle down," Joey said, waving his hands in protest. "Don't get so testy. Remember, Yugi here saved your life."  
  
DeeDee looked at Yugi, blinking rapidly. Almost as if she doesn't remember, Yugi thought, summoning his Yami.  
  
"Oh. Of course," DeeDee said finally. "Well, I'm sure you have a perfectly good explanation for roaming through my house."  
  
"Yeah, we were just passin' by and thought we'd drop in," Joey said grandly. "We noticed your place wasn't locked up tight and we wondered if someone had decided to break in or something." What he was saying was actually the truth, since they had found the open window.  
  
DeeDee paled. "Break in? But who would . . ."  
  
Yugi decided to go a step further. "DeeDee, we found this here." He held out the floppy red hat. "Does it look familiar?"  
  
DeeDee's eyes went wide, but then a confused look came over her face and she shook her head. "No, should I?"  
  
She definitely recognized it, Yugi thought grimly. "DeeDee, I'm going to be honest with you," he said finally. "It implicates you in the disasters that have been going on at the ski lodge. We have new information that one of the criminals has such a hat."  
  
"What? You're kidding." DeeDee grabbed the hat and turned it over and over in her hands. "This dinky thing makes me a criminal? Come on, Yugi, I almost died in that incident with my skis."  
  
"Hey, maybe you faked it," Joey piped up.  
  
"Do I look like the kind of girl who would abduct and tranquilize that poor kid Bakura?" DeeDee threw her hands out as if to say "Look at me!"  
  
"Hey, looks can be deceiving," Tristan returned.  
  
"Tristan's right," Yugi said. "DeeDee, if you're not guilty, you'll have to help me prove it."  
  
"Of course I'm not guilty!" DeeDee exclaimed. She paused. "How is Bakura doing, anyway?"  
  
Yugi paused, staring deeply into DeeDee's eyes.  
  
"What are you doing?" DeeDee demanded, confused.  
  
"What *is* he doing?" Joey wondered.  
  
"It looks like something with the Millennium Puzzle," Tristan replied.  
  
And sure enough, he was. After another moment, Yugi relaxed and finally spoke. "DeeDee, I don't remember telling you that Bakura was drugged."  
  
DeeDee suddenly looked extremely flustered. "Didn't you? I . . . could've sworn that you did . . . I'm sure I remember . . ."  
  
"Hey, give it up, sister," Joey interrupted. "I think you did what all criminals do eventually—you slipped up."  
  
DeeDee's eyes flashed. "And what if I did? Our plan was picture perfect! We're not beat yet." She grabbed a fire poker and pointed it right at Yugi. "I don't intend to lose."  
  
"Whoa! Take it easy!" Tristan said, starting to get worried.  
  
"DeeDee, let's talk this over," Yugi said. "If you tell us everything, you might get a reduced sentence."  
  
"I'm not going to get any sentence!" DeeDee snapped, thrusting the poker forward right at Yugi's heart.  
  
In a split-second, Yugi snapped his arm up and grabbed the poker with his hand, pulling it out of DeeDee's reach.  
  
"Alright!" Tristan cheered.  
  
"Way to go, Yugi!" Joey chimed in.  
  
"Let's talk this over rationally, DeeDee," Yugi said sternly, pointing the poker at her.  
  
DeeDee looked ready to bite through metal and backed up against the desk.  
  
"You're trapped now," Joey said gleefully.  
  
"Oh yeah? Think again, you obnoxious kid!" With an evil grin, DeeDee whipped out a gun from a hollow book that had been sitting on the desk. "Now you are all my prisoners. Put the poker down," she ordered Yugi, who slowly complied. "And in case you try pulling any stunts . . ." She jabbed Joey between the shoulder blades with the barrel of the gun. "This should make you stop and think before you do. Now . . . everybody out the back door!"  
  
"What do we do, Yugi?" Tristan asked.  
  
"We'll go along with her for now," Yugi replied quietly. "We don't seem to have a choice, and maybe she'll take us to her hideout."  
  
DeeDee herded them out the door and into a waiting van. "Lie down in the back and don't try anything funny," she ordered them, tying their hands together. Laughing wickedly, she climbed into the driver's seat and revved the engine. "And I hope you don't harbor any illusions about your friends rescuing you."  
  
"What have you done to them?" Yugi demanded.  
  
"Oh, *I* haven't done anything to them," DeeDee replied flippantly. "My partner-in-crime will take care of them for me. And your other poor friend, Bakura . . . he's already been taken care of."  
  
"What are you talkin' about?" Joey asked.  
  
DeeDee only laughed.  
  
"I don't like the sound of that," Yugi said grimly.  
  
"Yugi, do you think she did something else to Bakura?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I wouldn't put it past her," Yugi replied softly. "We'll have to pray that he, Tea, and the others are all okay, and that we'll be able to escape." With a smile, he slowly revealed that his hands were free. Joey's and Tristan's eyes went wide, and Yugi indicated for them not to say anything about it aloud.  
  
If that had surprised them, what Yugi did next absolutely floored them—or would have, had they not already been on the floor.  
  
"Evil never wins," he said sternly to DeeDee as she stopped the van several hours later. "And you will pay for all the people you've hurt, Karen."  
  
Joey and Tristan gasped.  
  
DeeDee was so startled that she honked the van's horn by accident. "What did you just call me?" she demanded.  
  
"I know who you really are," Yugi said. "You are Karen Flemming, and DeeDee is your twin sister."  
  
"That's ridiculous! There's no way you could possibly . . ." DeeDee/Karen trailed off, getting out of the van. "We're here. Come on out, and no funny business." She opened the back door of the van and roughly pulled the three outside, the gun tightly held in one hand.  
  
"Yugi, this must be where she and that guy took Bakura," Tristan whispered, seeing a lighted shack.  
  
"I think you're right, Tristan," Yugi agreed grimly as they were shoved inside at gunpoint.  
  
"Oh man," Joey groaned. "How are we gonna get outta this one?"  
****  
Bakura was at a total loss on how to deal with this new problem. "If only Yugi were here," he said aloud to himself, shaking his Yami gently, with no results, "he would know what to do."  
  
Suddenly the door flew open and Tea, Seto, and Mokuba burst in. "Bakura!" Tea exclaimed, stopping short in surprise. "You're awake!"  
  
"You gave us quite a scare," Seto remarked.  
  
Bakura brightened. "Oh, it's so good to see you guys," he declared. He sighed. "There's a bit of a problem here."  
  
"What is it?" Tea asked, concerned.  
  
"Someone threw a dart," Bakura replied grimly. "They must have been aiming for me, but they hit my Yami instead."  
  
Tea blinked in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that one.  
  
"I don't think he could die from it," Bakura added hurriedly, "since he hasn't exactly been alive for 5,000 years, but I can't seem to wake him up, and I just don't know what to do . . ." He trailed off. "Where's Yugi, Joey, and Tristan?" he exclaimed.  
  
"I wish we knew," Tea sighed. "We were hoping they were here. They weren't at either of the places they were supposed to be at."  
  
Bakura paled. "Oh no . . . oh no . . ."  
  
"What're we going to do now?" Mokuba wondered.  
  
"That's a good question, Mokuba," Tea replied, sinking into the soft couch cushions. "I wish I knew the answer." 


	15. Deadly Darts

"Did you hear that?" Seto asked suddenly in a hushed tone.  
  
"It sounded like a click," Bakura said, wide-eyed. "I've been feeling like someone's watching me . . ."  
  
"And so someone is." Seto went over to the bookcase and removed a certain volume. Neatly embedded in what looked like a book cover was a camera lens.  
  
The others gasped.  
  
"The villains are probably watching and laughing at us right now," Seto remarked.  
  
"What have you creeps done with Yugi, Joey, and Tristan?" Tea demanded, glaring into the dark lens. "When we find them, they'd better be unharmed, or you're going to be all kinds of sorry!"  
  
"I wish that guy we caught would tell us what's going on," Mokuba sighed.  
  
"You guys caught one of the criminals?" Bakura exclaimed, his brown eyes wide.  
  
"That's right," Tea said. She paused, suddenly remembering something. "And he said he wasn't really Kevin! But then . . . where *is* Kevin?"  
  
"Good question," Seto said grimly.  
  
"What made you accuse that guy of being a hit man?" Tea asked him curiously.  
  
Seto grinned wryly. "I saw a picture of Kevin in a newspaper on the desk, and he didn't look anything like the guy who popped in on us." With a smirk into the camera, he switched it off. "Now they can't have their eyes on us anymore."  
  
"What a relief," Tea said, leaning against the wall. "Knowing that someone was watching our every move was giving me the creeps."  
  
"I wish I knew what to do for my Yami," Bakura sighed. "Yugi's Yami would know how to help him."  
  
"I'm sure he'll be alright," Tea replied, laying a hand comfortingly on Bakura's shoulder. She paused, getting an idea. "Bakura, you stay here with him in case Yugi calls. Kaiba and I will go back to DeeDee's place and look around again. Maybe there's something we missed that would help us find Yugi, Joey, and Tristan."  
  
"Yeah, the police officers didn't really let 'us kids' look around much," Mokuba sighed. "Let's go!"  
  
"Maybe you should stay too, Mokuba," Tea said after a brief hesitation.  
  
"No way!" Mokuba protested. "I'm going with you and my brother."  
  
"I don't really want him to stay here," Seto told Tea. "Look at what happened to Bakura's Yami. If that dart had hit Bakura instead, he'd probably be . . ." He trailed off.  
  
There was a long silence, then Bakura said quietly, "Mokuba should go with you. I'll be alright here."  
  
"Okay, Bakura," Tea said, looking a bit concerned. "Be careful."  
  
"If we don't call and check in with you in the next two hours, you'll know we ran into trouble," Seto told him.  
  
After the three of them left, Bakura turned back to his silent Yami. With Seto's help, Bakura had laid the thief on the couch, where Bakura himself had lain only a short while before.  
  
"I wish I knew what to do to help you, Yami," the boy said softly. Suddenly getting an idea, he went into the kitchen nearby and returned a moment later with a damp dishtowel, which he placed on his Yami's forehead.  
  
"Please, Yami . . . give me some kind of sign that you'll be okay," Bakura whispered. He felt quite nervous all alone in the den with his unconscious Yami, never knowing if someone was hiding in the shadows, just waiting to shoot at any given time . . .  
  
"Please let us all get out of this alive," he prayed.  
****  
"Yugi, what's your plan?" Tristan asked in an undertone. Karen had left them locked in the closet, luckily never noticing that Yugi had somehow managed to loosen the ropes binding his hands together.  
  
Yugi smiled, easing the ropes off from around his wrists. "I let Karen bring us here in case she has any other hostages. Also, if we can find what their scheme is and how the lodge is involved, it would certainly be a help."  
  
Quietly he untied Joey and Tristan and signaled for them to be still. Then he closed one eye and looked through the keyhole. "The basement door is open," he observed. "Karen must be down there."  
  
"A perfect chance to make our getaway," Joey grinned.  
  
"Which is exactly what I want Tristan here to do," Yugi announced.  
  
"How?" Tristan and Joey asked in unison.  
  
"Karen slipped the keys to her van under the rug out there," Yugi informed them. "Tristan, I want you to take the van and drive to the nearest point of civilization. Call the police and the lodge and tell them what's happened so far." Slowly and cautiously he inched the closet door open. "Go now, Tristan, while the coast is clear, and be careful!"  
  
Tristan hesitated. "But what about you and Joey?"  
  
"We'll be fine," Yugi assured him. "Now hurry, Tristan, before she hears us talking."  
  
"Alright." Tristan fished the keys out from under the rug. "Take care, guys."  
  
"Hey, we'll be fine," Joey grinned. "Don't worry about us."  
  
Tristan softly departed, and Yugi and Joey dived back into the closet in case Karen had heard the van start up and was coming to investigate, but no sound came from downstairs, and the boys breathed sighs of relief.  
  
**Yugi, I have to check something out,** Yami Yugi said suddenly. **It might help you and Joey later on. Can you manage without my help for a while?**  
  
~Of course, Yami,~ Yugi replied.  
  
**I'll be back soon,** Yami Yugi assured him, and then he, too, departed.  
  
"Alright, Joey," Yugi said bravely. "Are you ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be, Yug," Joey grinned. "Let's do it!"  
  
Once again Yugi opened the closet door and he and Joey stepped out. "Well, what do you know." Joey smirked, grabbing a nearby crowbar to use as defense, and then he followed Yugi down the stairs.  
  
Neither one of them expected to find Karen (or was it DeeDee?) bound and gagged at the bottom. She looked up at them with wide, frightened eyes, then suddenly relaxed.  
  
"I think it's DeeDee," Joey announced. "The real DeeDee."  
  
"I think you're right, Joey," Yugi agreed, going over and taking the girl's gag off. "Are you okay, DeeDee?"  
  
She smiled. "I've been better, but yeah, I'm okay. It looks like this is the second time you've saved me, Yugi."  
  
Yugi turned crimson. "Um, yeah, I guess so," he said embarrassedly.  
  
"How long have you been like this, DeeDee?" Joey demanded to know as he and Yugi untied her.  
  
"Since the evening of the day when I fell over the cliff," DeeDee replied. "I kind of lost track of the days and times since then. Karen and her boyfriend ambushed me and brought me here. She told me about some kind of plan she had to take over my identity and that no one would even know the difference."  
  
"That's awful!" Yugi gasped.  
  
"Who is her boyfriend?" Joey asked.  
  
"I don't know his name," DeeDee sighed. "Late at night I'd hear them come in and start laughing about their scheme, or how they were going to scare everyone into leaving so the ski lodge would be theirs." Her eyes filled with tears. "They're ruthless people who won't stop at anything to get what they want!"  
  
"I can believe that," Joey muttered.  
  
"DeeDee, I saw Karen come down here. Where did she go?" Yugi asked. "Is there a secret exit?"  
  
"There's is, actually," DeeDee admitted. "It's over there." She pointed across the room. "Karen said something about rendezvousing with her boyfriend and that soon their plan will succeed."  
  
"Do you know what their plan is?" Yugi queried, praying that Tristan had been able to call the police by now.  
  
DeeDee shook her head. "Not exactly. From what I've overheard, it has something to do with them finding Pierre LeBlanc's rumored treasure. . . . I've heard Karen say that it rightfully belongs to the Flemmings . . . or at least to Karen Flemming." She sighed ruefully. "I doubt she's planning to share it with anyone else . . . if she finds it."  
  
"Oh man . . . we have to stop her!" Joey declared. "She's taking all of this way, *WAY* too far! She's nuts!" He paused. "Hey, DeeDee, are you the only hostage here?"  
  
"Yes," she replied. "When Karen came down a while ago, she was bragging about how she had three new hostages, and that soon she'd have the others, too." Her eyes went wide. "Hey, there's only two of you!"  
  
"Tristan sneaked off to get help," Yugi informed her.  
  
"Oh, I hope he makes it," DeeDee sighed.  
  
"Hey, if Karen didn't take the van when she went out—and she obviously didn't, since Tristan did—then how did she go to some rendezvous?!" Joey exclaimed suddenly.  
  
"There's at least half a dozen snowmobiles parked around back," DeeDee replied. "Karen's has a special silencer so no one hears it coming."  
  
"How sneaky," Joey muttered. "So like her."  
  
"Ah, and what do we have here?" a new voice rang out.  
  
Everyone froze. "Who's that?" Yugi gasped.  
  
"I don't know," DeeDee replied in hushed tones, "but whoever it is, they don't sound friendly."  
  
She couldn't have been more right. From around the corner came a sneering woman with jet black hair and flashing hazel eyes. Perched in her hand was a deadly-looking gun, in which she took great pleasure at pointing at Yugi, Joey, and DeeDee.  
  
"Who are you and what are you doing?" Yugi demanded bravely, stepping out in front of the others, trying to shield them from the woman's weapon.  
  
"You don't need to know who I am right now, but as for what I'm doing . . ." The woman pointed the gun right at Joey, while still talking to Yugi. "I'm here to get rid of troublemakers like you."  
  
"Hey! Watch where you point that thing!" Joey growled.  
  
"I am watching," the woman responded. "I'm watching very closely. This little trinket is a dart gun, just like the one I used on your friend Bakura a while ago."  
  
Everyone gasped. "You shot Bakura with a dart gun?" Yugi burst out. "What kind of person are you?"  
  
"Save your breath, Yugi," Joey said angrily, stepping forward. "These kind of people aren't really people, if you know what I mean. They're monsters!"  
  
The woman sneered. "I don't care what you call me. It still won't change things."  
  
"Joey! Look out!" Yugi screamed, pushing him out of the way just as the woman fired a dart.  
  
"Oh man, that was close," Joey gasped from his new location on the floor, just as Yugi fell across him, lifeless. "Yugi? . . . Yugi?" He looked up, suddenly realizing what had happened. "You shot Yugi!" he screamed, overcome by a sudden variety of emotions—anger, outrage, worry, panic. . . . "Yugi was protecting me . . . he took the dart for me. . . ." Tears filled the boy's eyes as he stood up, holding Yugi's limp body. "Yugi, come on, speak to me, man!" There was no response.  
  
"Joey's right!" DeeDee declared. "You're a horrible monster!!"  
  
"You'll both be joining him soon enough," the woman smirked.  
  
"Think again," a familiar voice growled. Yami Yugi was standing in the doorway, an expression of righteous indignation on his face.  
  
The woman was confused, looking back and forth between the lifeless boy in Joey's arms and this new arrival who so strongly resembled him. "What's . . . what's going on?" she demanded.  
  
"It's over," Yami Yugi said sternly. "You will never again destroy another life." He shot his hand out, sending the woman's weapon flying out of her own hand and disintegrating it. The woman gasped, slowly sinking to the floor, realizing she wasn't prepared to fight her new foe. "Evil will never triumph," Yami Yugi said, binding her hands together tightly with handcuffs.  
  
He looked at Joey and DeeDee, an expression of horror on his face as he gently took Yugi's body from Joey. He looked into the boy's pale face.  
  
"Yami, you gotta help him," Joey cried. "He's not dead . . . is he?"  
  
Yami Yugi pulled the dart out of Yugi's shoulder and placed a hand on the boy's chest, trying to find a heartbeat. His eyes narrowed, and he leaned down to listen.  
  
"It's not good, is it?" Joey said softly.  
  
"He's alive, but barely," Yami Yugi said at last. "He needs help immediately, but we're miles from any civilization." He turned to the woman, who was watching all of this transpire. "You! You, of all people—you must know the antidote for this."  
  
"It's a fast-acting drug," the woman replied, her eyes terrified of this strange, commanding person. "The antidote only works if administered within the first few minutes of the injection."  
  
"Where is it?" Yami Yugi demanded.  
  
"In my backpack, just outside the door," the woman said. "It's in a dark green vile."  
  
Without another word, Yami Yugi gently laid Yugi back in Joey's arms and went to retrieve the backpack. Almost instantaneously he was back with the vile and a syringe. He emptied the needle's contents into Yugi's arm while Joey and DeeDee watched anxiously.  
  
"If it's given to him in time, it should take effect almost immediately," the woman quavered, trying to be helpful.  
  
"Then all we can do is wait," Yami Yugi sighed, looking at Yugi's pale complexion. "Wait and pray." 


	16. The Spectre Returns

Note: Once again I'll remind everyone that I don't write slash in any way, shape, or form ;D  
  
  
Bakura looked out the window worriedly. It was almost dark outside. Where was everyone?! He wanted to get out of the lodge and find them.  
  
His Yami groaned.  
  
"Yami?" Bakura turned to looked at the ancient thief. "Are you alright?"  
  
Yami Bakura blinked, sitting up and letting the dishtowel fall from his forehead. He stared at it for a minute, then looked up at Bakura. "What happened?" he demanded.  
  
"You were hurt by a dart," Bakura told him.  
  
"What?! Where is it?" he growled.  
  
Bakura handed him the plastic bag, and the tomb raider stared at the contents.  
  
"They must've been trying to shoot you," Yami Bakura said angrily. "It's fortunate they hit me instead. It doesn't affect me the same way it would you."  
  
"I figured as much," Bakura said.  
  
"It only renders me unconscious for a short period of time, but with you . . . it would be lethal." Yami Bakura clenched his fist around the bag, his slanted brown eyes aflame with fury. "We can't let them know that they got the wrong target . . . if they don't already know."  
  
"They might, I'm afraid," Bakura replied. "They were using a hidden camera to watch us."  
  
Yami Bakura growled in vexation. "Come on, you dolt. I'm getting you out of here!"  
  
"But I'm supposed to wait in case someone calls," Bakura protested. "Wait . . . it's been about two hours since . . ."  
  
"What?" Yami Bakura asked, irritated.  
  
"Tea and the Kaiba brothers were supposed to check in within two hours," Bakura gasped. "They haven't, and I haven't heard anything from Yugi either!"  
  
"Then call the authorities or whatever it is you're supposed to do," Yami Bakura said impatiently. "Then you're coming with me!"  
  
"I'll agree only if we can try to find the others," Bakura replied, crossing his arms stubbornly.  
  
Yami Bakura snarled. "Fine!" he said finally, seeing that there would be no other way to get Bakura to leave.  
****  
"I don't see any sign of Yugi, Joey, or Tristan!" Tea moaned. "Where could they be?"  
  
"What's this?" Mokuba bent down and picked up a stiff piece of paper. "Hey, it's a Duel Monsters card!"  
  
"Huh? Let me see that, Mokuba," Seto said suddenly, and Mokuba handed it to him. "This is the Red Eyes Black Dragon," he declared. "Wheeler's strongest monster card."  
  
"Joey wouldn't just leave this laying around," Tea said worriedly. "Something must have happened to him, and to Yugi and Tristan, too!"  
  
"Like what?" Mokuba wondered. "Like maybe they were kidnapped?"  
  
"Exactly, Mokuba," Seto said grimly. "And I bet I know where they are."  
  
"Where, Kaiba?" Tea demanded.  
  
"At that old shack in the canyons where Bakura was taken," Seto replied.  
  
"Of course!" Tea exclaimed.  
  
"And the fastest way to get there is by snowmobile," Seto remarked.  
  
"Snowmobile?!" Tea repeated, the thought obviously distasteful. "Well, if that's the fastest way, it'll have to do," she sighed.  
  
After alerting the police to their suspicions, the trio found themselves at a snowmobile rental store.  
  
"We'd like to rent this one," Seto said to Henry White, the owner, pointing to a sleek, swift-looking model.  
  
"Certainly. A very fine choice," Mr. White said. "How long do you plan to rent it for?"  
  
"That's a good question," Tea hesitated.  
  
"Hey! Let me go!" Mokuba screamed suddenly.  
  
"Mokuba!" Seto and Tea gasped. The Spectre of the Slopes had made a reappearance, and he had abruptly snatched Mokuba up from where he had been standing right next to Seto. Now he was standing on top of another snowmobile, and Seto could tell that behind the ghostly paint, the creep was smirking.  
  
"Catch me if you can!" he taunted. "But no sudden moves, or the kid pays!" He held up a dart gun threateningly.  
  
"Put him down now!" Seto ordered. "You have some nerve, just grabbing him away like that!" His blue eyes flashed with outrage. "If you don't put him down, you'll wish you had," he growled.  
  
"Quite on the contrary. He is now my hostage. I will reclaim what is rightfully mine, and you won't try to stop me, or I will hurt him!" the phantom hissed, disappearing on the snowmobile into the clouds of white powder.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Tea gasped.  
  
"The only thing we can do," Seto replied, climbing onto the snowmobile he'd previously selected. "Hang on to me and don't let go!" he instructed Tea.  
  
"What's going on?" Mr. White, who had finally found his voice, exclaimed. There had never been a kidnapping at his place before—never!  
  
"Call the police and tell them what just happened, and then charge this to the Kaiba Corporation!" Seto called back.  
  
"Oh, certainly . . . the Kaiba Corporation?!" the man shrieked. "I can't do that! Not unless you have written permission from Seto Kaiba!"  
  
"I *am* Seto Kaiba!" the boy screamed in irritation. "That guy just kidnapped my brother Mokuba!" With that he revved the engine and then they were off in hot pursuit of the phantom, leaving a confused rental shop owner in their wake.  
****  
"Yugi doesn't seem to be getting better," DeeDee observed worriedly. The poor boy was still very pale and very quiet. With every passing minute the chances of him waking up became slimmer and less likely.  
  
"You slimeball!" Joey screamed at the mercenary, who was still looking very nervous, mostly because of Yugi's Yami. "How could you do something like this and live with yourself?!"  
  
The dark-haired woman only shrugged in reply.  
  
"If Yugi dies, I'm gonna throw the book at you and make sure you get locked away for life!" Joey fumed. He turned back to Yami Yugi, who was looking very serious. "Is there any change at all, Yami?"  
  
Yami Yugi placed two fingers to Yugi's neck, checking his pulse. "His pulse is still extremely faint," he admitted. "Of course, Yugi won't die without a fight, but I'm afraid he just might be too weak to win."  
  
"Come on, Yugi," Joey pleaded, his eyes watering, "you gotta pull through, man!"  
  
**Yugi, it's not your time!** Yami Yugi cried through their mental connection, lending some of his own strength to help the boy, who he could tell was fading fast. **Fight, Yugi! Fight hard!**  
  
"He's going to die, isn't he?" DeeDee sobbed.  
  
"No, he isn't!" Yami Yugi said fiercely, tho he wasn't sure if he really believed that. **Yugi! Can you hear me? You have to fight, Yugi! You have to fight to live!** There was a long silence.  
  
~Yami, I . . . I can't . . .~ Yugi replied at last. ~I'm trying . . . but . . . I can't make it. I can't . . .~ He fell silent once again.  
  
"Yugi!!" Yami Yugi found himself screaming out loud.  
  
Joey had a horrible sinking feeling. "Yami, is he . . .?"  
  
Yami Yugi found himself shedding a tear, which splashed against Yugi's closed eyelids. The ancient pharaoh didn't answer Joey's question, but his actions were answer enough.  
  
"Oh no. No!" Joey ran his hands through his messy blonde hair.  
  
"Why couldn't it have been me?" DeeDee cried.  
  
"Yugi, come on, say something!" Joey pleaded, giving the other boy's body a gentle shake on the shoulder.  
  
"It's no use," the mercenary woman said quietly. "I told you it was a fast-acting drug."  
  
Suddenly, miraculously, Yugi's violet eyes fluttered open.  
  
Everyone just stared in disbelief, then erupted into cries of joy.  
  
"Yugi! You're alive!" Yami Yugi exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, man, you gave us such a scare!" Joey declared, engulfing his best friend in an embrace. "We all thought you were . . ."  
  
Yugi smiled. "It's alright, Joey. I'm okay. Just a little weak," he added.  
  
"Hey, I expect you would be, after what you've just been through," Joey remarked.  
  
"Here, Yugi, come rest on this couch over here," Yami Yugi told him.  
  
"Thanks, Yami, but don't we need to be getting out of here before anything more happens?" Yugi asked.  
  
Yami Yugi smiled. "It's alright, Yugi. You just regain your strength first, and then we'll talk about what we're going to do." He laid a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "It's good to have you back."  
  
Yugi smiled. It was good to be back.  
****  
"You dolt! I'm getting snow in my eyes!" Yami Bakura complained as he and Bakura flew through the snow-covered canyons on a snowmobile.  
  
"You're supposed to wear goggles," Bakura reminded him.  
  
Yami Bakura muttered something in Egyptian, then switched back to English. "Your driving is atrocious!"  
  
"Oh, well then, maybe you'd like to take over?"  
  
Yami Bakura looked ahead at the sloping hills and pine, spruce, and fir trees in their path. He smirked. "Gladly. Stop this noisy monstrosity and we'll switch places."  
  
Bakura was just about to comply when he spotted another snowmobile just ahead. "That looks like the Spectre!" he gasped. "And who's that riding with him?"  
  
"Let me go!" a familiar young voice screamed. "You'd better start worrying about what my brother's gonna do to you, because I can tell you that he's really mad now!"  
  
"It's Mokuba!" Bakura gasped. "He's kidnapped Mokuba!"  
  
Shortly afterward, another snowmobile flew past in the distance, obviously chasing the first one. Bakura recognized Seto Kaiba's dark blue trenchcoat and Tea's terrified shriek as she clung to the young businessman to keep from falling overboard. Bakura remembered Tea's dislike of snowmobiles and other such things like them.  
  
"We have to go help them!" Bakura exclaimed.  
  
Yami Bakura sighed. This whole adventure was wasting his time, but for now he would go along. "Oh, very well." He sneered. "But I'm driving!"  
****  
Tea tried not to look at the scenery, which was flying past at speeds she didn't even want to think about. She knew she was going to be embarrassed when this was over—she was vaguely aware that she was clinging to Kaiba and screaming—but at the moment she didn't care about anything except not falling off the snowmobile. Kaiba seemed much too worried about Mokuba to really notice her panicked embrace, for which Tea was grateful.  
  
Suddenly Kaiba swerved the machine wildly, nearly toppling them into the snow.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Tea demanded. "Do you know how reckless that was?!"  
  
"I'm stopping," Seto responded abruptly. "That slimeball took Mokuba and went in there on foot!" He pointed to a cluster of trees just ahead.  
  
"Anything's preferable to riding that awful thing!" Tea muttered, following Seto into the evergreens.  
  
"Let's head that phantom off at the other end of this mini-forest!" Bakura directed from a short distance away.  
  
Yami Bakura growled a retort and swerved the snowmobile around a fir tree, side-swiping it in the process and causing it to dump a load of snow out of its branches and onto the occupants of the machine.  
  
Bakura gasped, brushing the snow out of his hair with one hand while trying to hold onto his Yami with the other so he wouldn't fall off. "Yami, you're reckless!" he declared.  
  
Yami Bakura cackled, seeming to be entirely enjoying his (debatable) mastery of the machine.  
  
Bakura shut his eyes tightly, afraid to look. "Yami, you're going to get us . . . er, I mean me . . . killed!"  
  
"You worry too much, you dolt!" Yami Bakura shot back. "I'm not about to let anything happen to you. Just relax!"  
  
At that minute he crashed into a shrub, uprooting it. Then the bush decided to stick itself to the front of the snowmobile, blocking the view.  
  
"Yami!!!" Bakura shrieked.  
  
Yami Bakura grumbled angrily, trying to press the shrub's branches down and away from the windshield. "Dratted gardeners—putting a shrub in my way!" he muttered.  
  
If their situation wasn't so dangerous, Bakura might have laughed.  
****  
"Poor little guy . . . he's been through a lot in the last little while," DeeDee commented softly, looking at Yugi, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch. "He deserves a nice rest."  
  
Yami Yugi nodded in agreement.  
  
"So, what's the plan, Yami?" Joey asked.  
  
"Well, I've been thinking that we should maybe stay here in case Karen or another member of the gang comes back," Yami Yugi replied. "Then we can take them by surprise and catch them. They won't be expecting us to all be free."  
  
"Ah, a game of hide-and-sneak!" Joey grinned. "Sounds good." Casually he leaned back against the wall, then suddenly gasped as he fell through. "Hey! What the . . ."  
  
"Joey! Are you alright?" Yami Yugi asked, coming over to the gaping hole to look.  
  
"Hey, yeah, I'm okay," Joey said, getting up and dusting himself off, "but what the heck is this?! It looks like some kind of weird tunnel!"  
  
"I think that's exactly what it is, Joey," Yami Yugi said. "We'd better be careful—the criminals might come through that way. . . . I wonder where it leads . . ." He paused. "Maybe I should investigate."  
  
"Hey, be my guest." Joey stepped out of the hole and gestured inside.  
  
"Only . . . I don't know if I should leave again," Yami Yugi said hesitantly. "Look at what happened when I left before."  
  
"Hey, relax, Yami," Joey replied, laying a hand on the ancient pharaoh's shoulder. "What more could go wrong?"  
  
A loud screeching sound came from deep in the tunnel.  
  
Yami Yugi sighed. "I've learned that 'what more can go wrong' is more often than not one of the unwisest things to say," he remarked. 


	17. More Revelations

"I don't see anyone here, Kaiba," Tea said as she looked in distaste at the low-hanging pine branches, which kept sticking in her hair and scratching across her face. Silence. Tea looked around, puzzled. "Kaiba? Hey, where are you?!" she called. "Kaiba!"  
  
Suddenly a cold hand clamped over her mouth and her eyes went wide in shock and horror. Angrily she fought against her assailant, who then whispered in a familiar voice, "It's me, Tea. Don't be afraid." Seto removed his hand from over her mouth and stepped out into her line of vision.  
  
Tea turned him indignantly. "Kaiba! I have a good mind to slap you across your face! How dare you scare me like that!"  
  
"I didn't want that jerk to hear you," Seto replied. His voice held no emotions, tho Tea thought she caught a flicker of hurt in his eyes. "The last thing I need to worry about right now is two abducted people. Now come on. We have to get Mokuba back. Once that creep thinks Mokuba has worn out his welcome, there's no telling what he'll do to him!"  
  
With that Seto took Tea's hand and led her through the trees.  
  
Tea still felt a little angry that Kaiba had scared her, but she also felt bad about how she had snapped at him. Maybe, she thought, she should apologize.  
  
What happened next, however, made her forget all about apologies.  
  
With a scream, she started to fall through a hole in the ground, which had mysteriously appeared. Seto, still holding on to Tea's hand, was so startled by this turn of events that he had no time to collect his bearings and he toppled into the hole as well.  
  
"What's happening?" Tea gasped.  
  
"In all honesty, I think we're falling," Seto replied sarcastically.  
  
Before long they crashed at the bottom on a stack of feather pillows.  
  
"That was a soft landing," Tea remarked, surprised.  
  
Seto didn't answer. Instead he slowly climbed up off the pillows and looked around. "Mokuba! Are you down here?" he called, receiving an echo in response.  
  
"What is this place?" Tea wondered, coming over to stand next to Kaiba.  
  
"It looks manmade," Seto told her. "Something doesn't seem right somewhere . . ."  
  
"What do you mean?" Tea asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.  
  
"I think the place just might be infested with criminals up to no good," Seto said grimly.  
  
"How pleasant," Tea remarked sarcastically.  
  
Suddenly they found themselves looking into the barrel of a revolver.  
  
"Freeze," a familiar voice growled. "Reveal yourselves!"  
  
Deja vu, Tea sighed to herself. "Rocco, it's Tea Gardner."  
  
"And Seto Kaiba," Seto added coldly.  
  
The gun was lowered and Rocco stepped out. "So you're the ones who caught that fake Kevin Tanner!" He grinned broadly. "Sorry about the . . . unique welcome you got," he said apologetically. "I thought you were a couple of criminals, falling into the trap I set."  
  
"Who are you?" Seto demanded to know.  
  
"Well, I'm sure that the fake Kevin told you that I was a criminal," he said, and Seto and Tea both nodded. "I'm actually a private investigator, hired to track down the criminals who've been disrupting the ski lodge. That isn't the first place they've disturbed. I've chased them down from Idaho."  
  
"We need proof before we'll believe it," Tea told him, folding her arms.  
  
"You're very wise, Tea," Rocco said. "I work with the Marvin Detective Agency up in Logan. You can call them and ask about me. Heck, even ask them to describe what I look like, if you want," he added with a smile. "I know all about how that fake Kevin tried to trick you."  
  
Seto pulled out his cell phone and called the agency, which he'd remembered seeing on one of his trips into the city. After talking with the senior agent, Seto was satisfied that Rocco was really on the up and up and would give him a straight answer to his question. As he put his cell phone away, he asked, "Did you see a creepy guy in ghost makeup carrying a kid with black hair and wearing a blue bandanna?"  
  
"No, I didn't," Rocco replied, looking concerned. "I've been here in this known hideout of the criminals, waiting for one or more of them to make an appearance, but so far, nothing. I took the ladder away hoping that they'd come down and fall right into my trap."  
  
"I have to find my brother," Seto said, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"I wish you the best of luck," Rocco replied. "Once Detective North comes to take on the next watch, I'll be free to help you."  
  
Seto nodded in acknowledgment. "That would be much appreciated. However, I don't see how I can stay around waiting. There's no telling where that guy took Mokuba, but with every passing moment they get farther away."  
  
"Why did he take Mokuba?" Rocco asked. "Did he give any indication?"  
  
"He took him as a hostage," Seto said angrily, clenching his fists.  
  
"So we would think twice before stopping him," Tea put in, "tho he didn't exactly say what it was that he didn't want us to stop him from doing."  
  
"I think I know," Rocco said grimly. "He probably wants to get away with stealing Pierre LeBlanc's treasure."  
  
"What is this treasure everyone keeps talking about?" Tea demanded.  
  
"No one knows exactly," Rocco replied. "Part of the attraction of the legendary treasure is the mystery about what it is."  
  
There was a silence. "Do you know where that creep might've taken Mokuba?" Seto asked pleadingly.  
  
"I do have an idea," Rocco replied. "I'll take you there when Detective North comes." He paused, hearing a signal of some kind. He returned the signal, smiling. "And here she is, right on time."  
  
Seto and especially Tea started in surprise when Lisa descended down through the gaping hole. She smiled at them, then turned to Rocco.  
  
"I see you have visitors," she said.  
  
"That's right," Rocco agreed. "And now I'm going to show them the tunnel. Maybe they can help us figure out how to open it."  
  
"Maybe. But what brings you two here?" Lisa asked, turning to the teenagers.  
  
"We're looking for my brother," Seto replied.  
  
"The Spectre kidnapped him," Tea added.  
  
"And you think he might be behind that immovable panel," Lisa stated, addressing Rocco again.  
  
"I do," Rocco admitted. "And we'd better leave now."  
  
"Good luck," Lisa said.  
  
With that Rocco led them down a dark hall.  
  
"Where are we going?" Tea asked.  
  
"There's a panel here that we haven't been able to get past," Rocco replied. "I'm convinced that the criminals have some kind of secret place behind it where they're keeping the people they've abducted."  
  
Soon afterward they came to the panel.  
  
Seto placed his hand on it and was startled when it started to open. "As you were saying . . .?"  
  
"I don't understand it," Rocco remarked. "What's happening? How is it opening?"  
  
"Maybe someone's opening it from the other side," Tea suggested.  
  
Rocco pulled out his revolver just in case the other parties were not friendly. "Be on guard," he warned.  
  
The panel continued to open, making a terrible screeching sound in the process.  
  
"Whoa. What's dyin' in there?" a familiar voice remarked.  
  
"Wheeler?" Seto asked in disbelief.  
  
"Kaiba?" Joey stared into the darkness.  
  
"Joey! Are you alright?" Tea called.  
  
"Heck, yeah, I'm okay," Joey replied.  
  
"Are you guys being held hostage?" Tea asked worriedly.  
  
Joey paused. "Well, we were, but we're free now," he said finally. "Come on over!"  
  
Rocco led the way through the narrow passageway. "I'm a private detective," he announced. "Can someone tell me what's been happening?"  
  
"Rocco! You're here!" DeeDee smiled, and she and Joey went over and started to relate to him what had transpired over the last few hours, while Tea and Kaiba turned to Yami Yugi.  
  
"Mokuba isn't here, is he?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"He's not," Yami Yugi answered. "He was abducted?"  
  
Seto nodded angrily.  
  
Tea looked around the room. "Why is Yugi sleeping on the couch? He's alright, isn't he?" she demanded.  
  
Yami Yugi paused. He hadn't said anything about the scare earlier, because he hadn't wanted to get Tea upset. He knew, tho, that it wouldn't be fair not to tell her, so he gently took Tea by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "He's alright now, Tea, but I have to be honest with you—we were very worried about him for a while."  
  
Tea tensed. "What do you mean, Yami?" she asked.  
  
Briefly Yami Yugi explained about the mercenary woman and what she'd done. As he'd known would happen, Tea's eyes went wide and she had to struggle hard to keep from crying out in utter horror.  
  
Seto was absolutely appalled as well. "That's outrageous!" he declared.  
  
"Yugi wouldn't hurt a fly!" Tea said angrily to the mercenary. "How could you ever harm him?!"  
  
The woman looked at the floor and didn't answer. For the first time in a long while, she felt ashamed for doing her job.  
  
"Are you sure Yugi's okay?" Tea asked Yami Yugi worriedly.  
  
Yami Yugi smiled. "He is now, Tea. You don't have to worry."  
  
Tea went over and sat beside Yugi's sleeping form, her eyes still shining with concern. Gently she laid a hand on his shoulder. Yugi stirred, his eyes opening and focusing on Tea.  
  
"Yugi! Are you okay?" she asked, relieved that he really had just been sleeping.  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay," Yugi said, surprised. "But Tea . . . what are you doing here?"  
  
"It's a long story," she replied, "but we're looking for Mokuba."  
  
"Oh no. You mean he was kidnapped?" Yugi gasped.  
  
"Exactly," Seto growled, getting angry all over again.  
  
"That's horrible!" Yugi exclaimed. He paused, suddenly remembering something else horrible. "Are you both okay?" he asked. "That . . . that person . . . she said . . . that she'd . . ." A tear fell from Yugi's eye. ". . . She said she'd shot Bakura."  
  
Tea gasped and Seto looked disgusted, but then Tea relaxed. "Well, I hope nothing else has happened since we last saw him, because he was fine then. But his Yami did get shot," she remembered. "Bakura figured their assailant mistook his Yami for him."   
  
Yugi relaxed as well. "Yami Bakura was shot? That's not as serious. My yami says that he and Yami Bakura aren't affected by poisons the same way that us mortals are."  
  
"Yeah," Joey, who had been listening for heaven knows how long, grinned. "Yami Bakura is probably back to his usual nasty self by now."  
  
Seto, meanwhile, was looking out the window. "Mokuba!" he gasped. "The spectre's here—and he's carrying Mokuba!"  
  
"Why isn't he fighting the guy?" Joey asked.  
  
"He looks hurt," Seto replied, clenching his fists in outrage.  
  
Rocco, who was still talking to DeeDee, snapped to attention. "Alright. Let's get into place and bust us a ghost," he directed.  
****  
Mokuba was vaguely aware that he was being picked up and carried somewhere, but he couldn't make his eyes obey him and open. Then he decided it might be to his advantage to pretend he was still unconscious. He had been fighting and struggling with his captor, until the jerk had become so frustrated with him that he'd clapped a sweet-smelling cloth over the young boy's face, knocking him out. Chloroform, Mokuba decided angrily, just like in those mystery books he was always reading.  
  
Sometimes he pretended that he and his brother were the detectives solving the cases. He had never dreamed that they would wind up involved in the real, live, dangerous mystery that they were in now. He wasn't sure he liked it very much, either.  
  
He heard his captor opening a door and he planned his strategy. When the guy least expected it, he'd suddenly come to life and escape. Nobody messed with Mokuba Kaiba and got away with it!  
****  
"Yami! Watch out!" Bakura shrieked. "You're going to hit that deer!!"  
  
Yami Bakura swerved to miss the animal at the last possible second. "You dolt! You worry too much. I'm not going to hit anything!"  
  
Bakura gasped as an empty log cabin loomed up ahead. He couldn't look. He heard the splintering of logs, the breaking of glass . . . He dared to open his eyes. Yami Bakura had driven right into the cabin!!  
  
"Yami!! What are you thinking??! If we're not killed, we're going to be thrown in jail!" Bakura scolded, watching in horror as his Yami drove out through the cabin's back door.  
  
Yami Bakura only laughed. "For what? Demolishing that old, abandoned dump? Someone should've ran through it years ago!"  
  
"I am never letting you drive one of these again!" Bakura screamed.  
  
"What makes you think you have a choice in the matter?" Yami Bakura returned.  
  
Bakura sighed in resignation, then gasped when he saw what lay ahead—a gaping hole. If his Yami didn't slow down, they would go right over! 


	18. Trouble on the Mountaintop

Bakura screamed as Yami Bakura sent the snowmobile flying over the precipice, where it crashed down safely on the other side. "You're a madman!" he gasped.  
  
Yami Bakura laughed.  
  
"I think you're actually enjoying scaring me half to death!" Bakura moaned.  
****  
The Spectre smirked evilly, pushing the door open and entering the darkened shack. "You won't get away from me, you troublesome shrimp," he growled to Mokuba's quiet form.  
  
Suddenly something cold poked between his shoulder blades. "Put him down now," a commanding, angry voice ordered. "And if you've harmed him in any way, you're going to wish you'd never heard of Seto Kaiba!"  
  
The Spectre tensed. "You . . . you've got a gun!"  
  
"Do you want me to use it?" Seto growled.  
  
Shakily the Spectre dropped Mokuba on the floor. "Here! You can have him!"  
  
"If you've hurt him, I'll break every bone in your body!" Seto fumed.  
  
Mokuba leaped up. "I'm okay, big brother!" He kicked the Spectre in the shin.  
  
"Ow!" the Spectre yelled. "You little brat! How long have you been awake?"  
  
"Long enough," Mokuba replied.  
  
With a smirk, Seto grabbed the Spectre, restraining him, while Tea clicked the lights on.  
  
The Spectre twisted around to look at his captor. "You don't have a gun!" the fake ghost exclaimed, angry that he'd been fooled. "It's a cell phone!"  
  
Seto laughed. "I was bluffing," he agreed.  
  
"But I'm not!" Rocco appeared from another room, his revolver in hand. "And I think it's high time for some answers! What's going on here?!"  
  
The Spectre grinned nastily. "Just because you caught me doesn't mean I'm going to confess. I don't have to tell you anything!"  
  
"Tie this jerk up!" Joey called.  
  
"My pleasure," Kaiba smirked.  
  
When the Spectre was bound alongside the mercenary, Seto turned to Mokuba, concerned. "Are you alright, Mokuba? What did that creep do to you?"  
  
"I'm fine, big brother," Mokuba assured him.  
  
"What did he do to you?" Seto asked again in a soft voice.  
  
"He just kinda . . . chloroformed me," Mokuba replied embarrassedly, looking at the floor.  
  
"Oh, he did, huh?" Seto glared viciously at the Spectre, who shrugged.  
  
"Hey, the shrimp was getting on my nerves," he said defensively. "I just used enough to knock him out for a while. It's nothing he won't recover from."  
  
"Maybe not, but I don't appreciate you doing anything to harm him," Seto growled.  
  
"And now you'll be goin' to the slammer for a long time," Joey said gleefully. "No more playin' ghost."  
  
"But if you tell everything you know, you might get a reduced sentence," Yugi said, knowing that this method might work on this man even tho it hadn't worked on Karen.  
  
"Not that you deserve it," Tea added.  
  
The Spectre sighed. "Alright, I'll talk."  
  
At these words, Joey pulled a miniature tape recorder out of his pocket. "I thought we might need this," he grinned, pressing the record button.  
  
"I'm part of a group of racketeers," the Spectre began. "We go around to places like the ski lodge here and try to take them over by first ousting the owners away with weird things—ghosts, especially—and then buying the place when it goes up for bid. We pick large places with lots of value. Karen Flemming is the ringleader, along with her boyfriend Marc Cassidy, who's been impersonating Kevin Tanner.. . ."  
  
"You fool! You're telling everything!"  
  
Everyone whirled around to see Karen standing in the doorway, a deadly gun in hand.  
  
"I think there's been entirely too much monkey business going on here," she smirked. "But now I'll just take that tape you made and dispose of it."  
  
"What tape?" Joey asked, looking around. "I don't see a tape."  
  
"Don't play dumb with me, shrimp!" Karen growled. "I don't know how you all managed to escape, but you won't get far! Say your prayers!"  
  
"Don't do this, Karen," DeeDee pleaded.  
  
"Shut up," she snapped. "Now, who wants to be first?"  
  
"No one," Seto said coldly from behind the door, startling her. "I'll take that, thank you very much," he smirked, grabbing the gun away from her.  
  
Suddenly a fierce, strong arm wrapped around Seto's neck. "And I'll take it from you," a gravelly voice laughed, snatching the gun.  
  
"Wheeler! Catch!" Seto threw the tape at Joey. "Get it out of here!"  
  
"Touchdown!" Joey grinned. "I'm on it!"  
  
"Go, Joey!" Tea called.  
  
"Get him!" Karen screamed, wondering how in the world that other boy got the tape in the first place.  
  
"Not as long as I can do this." With his free hand, Seto reached up and squeezed the pressure point on the muscleman's arm. With a howl of agony, he let go of Seto and the gun and sank to the floor, clutching his arm in pain.  
  
"Idiot!" Karen screamed. "Why didn't you restrain his hands?!"  
  
"I didn't know he knew how to do this," the man wailed, rubbing his numb arm.  
  
"And now that other insolent boy is escaping with the incriminating tape!" Karen fumed. "If he gets it to the police, we're all sunk."  
  
"Not while I'm around," a new voice smugly. Everyone looked up see another burly henchman in the doorway. "I tampered with the snowmobile he took."  
  
"What?!" everyone burst out.  
  
"He'll be hurt!" Yugi gasped.  
  
"Not until he has to escape on foot," the henchman growled. "Then I'll overpower him and take back the tape!" Before anyone could do anything, he was out the door and revving up his own snowmobile.  
  
"We have to stop him!" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
"Not while you have me to contend with," Karen snarled.  
  
And so began an all-out battle. Karen revealed that she had a few more henchmen on hand, and they started exchanging punches with Yugi and his Yami—who had joined once again—and Rocco, while Tea and DeeDee grappled with Karen. Then an unknown set off a smoke bomb, and when the air was finally clear again, the henchmen were all defeated on the floor, but Karen was missing, and so was . . .  
  
"Kaiba!" Yugi gasped.  
  
"What about him?" Tea asked.  
  
"He's missing as well," Yugi said grimly. "And so is Mokuba."  
****  
Joey groaned as the snowmobile's engine sputtered and died. "Oh man, now what? I'll never be able to walk all the way to civilization . . . but it looks like I'll havta try!"  
  
That's when he heard the whine of another snowmobile. "It's one of Karen's goons!" he realized, as the machine got closer and closer and showed no sign of stopping. "And I think he's tryin' to run me down!"  
  
Frantically he started running through the snow, moving wildly from side to side, hoping to confuse his assailant. It didn't seem to be working, and then Joey tripped and fell, landing right in the path of the oncoming snowmobile.  
  
"Oh man. This is it—I'm gonna die!" Joey moaned, trying to get up and finding his foot caught in a shrub.  
  
At the last possible second, the machine veered to the left. Joey looked up, surprised that he was still alive. "Huh?"   
  
He gasped, spotting Seto Kaiba standing on the back of the snowmobile, trying to force the henchman out. "Kaiba!" Joey declared. "But . . . how?"  
****  
Seto Kaiba pursued the henchman on another snowmobile, his eyes narrowed in disgust. That guy was going to run Joey Wheeler down if he didn't do something—and fast.  
  
Without warning he leaped from his snowmobile and over to the other one, successfully startling the goon into swerving the machine away from Joey.  
  
"What the . . . get down!" the man yelled.  
  
"Not on your life," Seto replied. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"  
  
The henchman growled, struggling to regain control of the snowmobile and turning it around to try again.  
  
"Wheeler! Look out!" Kaiba yelled.  
  
Joey gasped, struggling to stand up. He scrambled out of the way just in time, but the henchman quickly turned the machine to face Joey yet again.  
  
"Say your prayers, kid!" he sneered.  
  
Seto grabbed the controls, making the vehicle veer to the right. "Give it up!" he growled.  
  
"I'm taking him out and then it'll be your turn," the man snapped, once again turning to hit Joey, who was running out of places to hide on the open, snow-covered mountaintop.  
  
"Stop it," Seto snarled, pulling on the controls again.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" the man said, trying to shove Seto overboard.  
  
Seto grabbed the man and tried to pull him away from the controls.  
  
The man growled, slamming all the controls at once and grabbing Seto's wrists with one mighty hand, again trying to throw him off. Seto fought back, managing to again swerve the machine away from Joey. As the henchman tried to turn it back, he caused the snowmobile to tip over, sending them both flying in different directions.  
****  
Joey gasped as the snowmobile turned over. "Oh man. What a crash!"  
  
"Seto! Big brother!" Mokuba screamed, appearing out of seemingly nowhere.  
  
"Mokuba!" Joey exclaimed. "Where did you . . ."  
  
"I followed my brother out of the shack," Mokuba sobbed. "He told me to stay out of sight so I wouldn't get hurt." He ran out into the snow, collapsing on his knees next to his brother, who was laying very still, and shook him frantically. "Big brother! Please, say something!"  
  
He gasped, seeing blood streaming down the side of Seto's face. "He's bleeding!" he screamed to Joey, who was making his way over to them.  
  
The Brooklyn-born boy knelt down next to Kaiba and gently turned him over. He smoothed back the other boy's long bangs and gasped, finding a nasty cut just above Kaiba's left temple. "Ouch," he commented.  
  
Mokuba's eyes went wide. "Is it bad?"  
  
Joey pulled out a white handkerchief and dabbed at the blood. "I think it looks worse than it actually is, kid," he replied. "He must've hit his head on the snowmobile's handlebars or something." He paused. "Man, I'd probably be dead if it wasn't for him."  
  
Mokuba nodded, trying not to cry. "Big brother, can you hear me? Please answer!"  
  
"He'll be alright, Mokuba," Joey said comfortingly. I hope, he added to himself. "The bleedin's stopped," he noticed. "We'd better get him out of the snow before he winds up like Bakura did." He reached over and tried to lift Kaiba into his arms, and Mokuba tried to assist. "I don't know if this is going to work," Joey sighed.  
  
Suddenly they heard the sound of an engine, and a familiar van pulled up.  
  
"Tristan!" Joey declared. "Man oh man, are we glad to see you!"  
  
Tristan climbed out of the van, an expression of shock on his face as he surveyed the scene before him. "What happened?" he gasped.  
  
"Long story," Joey replied. "One of Karen's goons tried to run me down and Kaiba here saved my hide." He finally succeeded in standing up with Seto's body in his arms and Tristan rushed to assist.  
  
"Oh man . . . is he . . .?" Tristan didn't finish the sentence, glancing at Mokuba.  
  
"I think he's just unconscious," Joey replied. "But it was another really close call. We're havin' waaaay too many of them." He paused. "I don't know where Karen's goon went," he added. "He just seemed to disappear."  
  
"Well, let's get Kaiba to the shack," Tristan directed. "I took the police there and they rounded up the henchmen. Unfortunately, tho, Karen got away," he sighed.  
  
"She's still at large?" Mokuba exclaimed. "That's bad!"  
  
Tristan and Joey gently laid Kaiba across the back seat of the van and Mokuba climbed up next to him. Tristan got back in the driver's seat and they took off.  
  
"The police put out an all-points bulletin for her, but she seems to have flown the coop," Tristan sighed, adjusting the rear view mirror to look at Joey, who, along with Mokuba, was trying to revive Seto.  
  
"We probably haven't seen the last of her," Joey sighed.  
****  
Several minutes later Tristan parked the van in front of the now-familiar shack and helped Joey carry Kaiba inside.  
  
"What happened?!" Tea greeted them with a gasp.  
  
"Kaiba!" Yugi exclaimed. "Is he hurt bad?"  
  
"I hope not," Joey replied grimly, laying the motionless boy on the couch. "He fell off a moving snowmobile."  
  
"He saved Joey's life," Mokuba said tearfully.  
  
"That's right." Joey nodded and related what had happened, while Tea cleaned and bandaged Kaiba's cut. "I'd be a goner if Kaiba hadn't come along," he said softly.  
****  
"Look, Yami!" Bakura exclaimed, pointing to several white cars with flashing red and blue lights on top. "There's the police!"  
  
"Am I supposed to be thrilled about that?" Yami Bakura asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Let's stop and ask them what's going on," Bakura said. "I have a feeling that they maybe know where the others are."  
  
Yami Bakura pulled over. "Fine, be my guest," he growled.  
  
Bakura went over to the nearest car and tapped on the window. "Excuse me, officer," he called.  
  
The police officer rolled the window. "Yes? What is it, son? Is something wrong?"  
  
"Well . . . this might sound a bit silly," Bakura replied, "but I'm wondering if you've seen some friends of mine . . ."  
  
"Are you Bakura?" the officer asked with a smile.  
  
"Why . . . yes, yes I am," the boy said, his brown eyes widening.  
  
"Your friends are up at a shack just a little ways up ahead," the officer told him. "They've been worried about you."  
  
"Thank you, Officer," Bakura said in relief. He climbed back on the snowmobile. "Continue driving this way," he directed his Yami. "But no shortcuts through cabins!"  
  
  
  
Note: I promise this is the last time I'll KO a character in this story! ^_~ Bear with me! LOL ^_~ 


	19. Final Battle

Note: I really don't write any kind of slash ^^  
  
  
"Man, I can't believe it's almost midnight."  
  
"Time flies when you're running from psychotic criminals bent on killing you."  
  
Kaiba heard Joey and Tristan talking as if from far away. Good, he thought, Wheeler's still alive.  
  
He felt soft, gentle hands—probably Tea's—on his forehead, tending to an injury whose origin he couldn't recall. The last thing he remembered was fighting that madman bent on running Joey down. He moaned softly, trying to force his eyes open.  
  
"Hey, I think Kaiba's waking up," Yugi announced. "Kaiba? Are you okay?" he asked.  
  
"Big brother?" came Mokuba's hopeful voice.  
  
Seto stirred, finally prying his dark-blue eyes open. "I'll live," he rasped with a wry smile, as Mokuba leaped into his arms in delight.  
  
"I'm so glad you're awake!" he exclaimed. "I was so worried when you fell off the snowmobile . . . and you were bleeding . . ." He shuddered.  
  
Seto smiled gently. "Seto Kaiba doesn't go down easily."  
  
Joey laid a hand on the young businessman's shoulder. "Hey, man, you saved me from being creamed. Thanks a mil," he said quietly.  
  
"I didn't want you to die, Wheeler," Seto replied. He looked around. "Where are we?"  
  
"Back at the shack," Joey told him.  
  
Suddenly they heard a tremendous sound of splintering wood coming from upstairs.  
  
"What was that?" Tea gasped.  
  
"It sounded like something tore right into the wall," Yugi exclaimed, as everyone headed for the stairs. When they reached the top, they stopped short in utter surprise and shock. Of all the things they had expected to see, it was not Bakura scolding his Yami while the ancient thief only cackled nastily in reply.  
  
"Bakura!" everyone cried.  
  
Both Bakura and his Yami looked up. "Ah, so we have found you foolish mortals at last," Yami Bakura smirked. "I suppose that means that we have finally ended this ridiculous quest."  
  
"Are you all alright?" Bakura asked worriedly.  
  
"Yeah, I think we're all present and accounted for," Joey grinned.  
  
"It's good to see you up and around, Bakura," Yugi smiled.  
  
"Yeah, we were worried about you, pal," Tristan said, clapping a hand on Bakura's shoulder.  
  
Bakura smiled. "I'm alright now, but the last thing I want to do is tramp through the snow again for hours on end."  
  
"I suppose it's too much to hope that this whole ridiculous mystery has been wrapped up," Yami Bakura interjected.  
  
"I wish," Tea sighed.  
  
"Unfortunately, the ringleader got away," Yugi said. "But there's not a lot we can do about that tonight. Let's all go back to the lodge and get a good night's sleep, and maybe we'll know what to do by morning."  
****  
Carl and Betty were waiting anxiously for them when they got back.  
  
"Thank the heavens above you're all okay!" Betty said, relieved. "We were all so worried . . .!"  
  
"We certainly were," Carl agreed. "Bakura, I see you're feeling better," he noticed with a smile.  
  
"Oh . . . yes, I am," the boy replied, and smiled too.  
  
"We caught the Spectre," Yugi said.  
  
"I know," Carl said softly. "The police came to tell me everything. You don't know how much it means to us! Now we'll be able to stay living here and we won't have to shut the lodge down!"  
  
"I'm so glad we could help, Carl," Yugi smiled.  
  
"I know the ringleader got away, but I'm sure she'll be caught soon," Carl went on. "You have all done so very much . . . how can we ever thank you?"  
  
Joey grinned mischievously. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but just to spend the rest of our vacation without psychos tryin' to cream us is thanks enough for me."  
  
Carl laughed heartily.  
****  
"Yami, what are we going to do?" Yugi asked his Yami later that night. Unable to sleep, he had gone up into one of the lodge's towers to think things over, and Yami Yugi had come out of the Millennium Puzzle to talk with him. "I have the awful feeling that Karen's going to come back."  
  
"She is," Yami Yugi said with a nod. "She believes she knows where LeBlanc's treasure is . . . if it exists."  
  
"But how can she expect to get in?" Yugi wondered. "The police would be waiting to arrest her as soon as she made a move."  
  
Yami Yugi smiled mysteriously. "Think about it, Yugi. How *could* she get in?"  
  
Yugi did think about it. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "That's it!" he exclaimed.  
****  
Without wasting any time, Yugi woke the others and called a meeting.  
  
"Joey, where did you and Kaiba find that entrance into the mausoleum?" he asked.  
  
Joey scratched his head. "There was one in the basement, and another somewhere on the grounds," he remembered. "Hey, isn't it illegal to have something like a tomb on your property?"  
  
"I should hope so," Seto said dryly. "But since I've actually never attempted to arrange to have a cemetery in my house, I wouldn't know for sure."  
  
Bakura had to chuckle at that.  
  
Yugi smiled as well. "I think it is illegal, but that's not what we need to be worrying about right now. It's the crime that's about to take place."  
  
"Crime?" Joey gasped. "What crime?"  
  
"Karen is going to look for LeBlanc's treasure in the mausoleum," Yugi explained.  
  
"But how will she get in?" Tristan wondered.  
  
"She's already in," Tea said, catching on.  
  
"That's right," Yugi nodded. "It wasn't Karen who disappeared at the shack . . ."  
  
"It was DeeDee!" Tea finished.  
  
"Oh, the old switcheroo routine again," Joey remarked with a sigh. "But then . . . where's DeeDee?"  
  
"Escaped," Seto decided. "She's just waiting to make her next move."  
  
"That's right," Yugi agreed. "You see, both twins are criminals. DeeDee pretended to be on our side so we would continue to trust her."  
  
"Huh? No way!" Joey exclaimed. "She was all tied up by Karen!"  
  
"Yes, she was," Yugi agreed. "Karen got greedy and didn't want to share the treasure with anyone, so she was planning to get rid of DeeDee, and she tried to by having Marc cut DeeDee's skis. When that didn't work, Karen abducted her sister, who then used us to help her get free."  
  
"Oh man . . . they just keep throwing new twists at us," Joey groaned.  
  
"But Yugi, how did you figure this out?" Bakura wondered.  
  
Yugi smiled grimly. "Mostly with the help of my Yami and the Millennium Puzzle," he admitted. "But DeeDee herself dropped a couple of inadvertent clues when she was talking with us."  
  
"Whoa . . . freaky," Joey commented.  
  
"So what's the plan, Yugi?" Tristan asked.  
  
"We'll split up," Yugi replied, summoning his Yami. "I'll go tell Carl and then head down to the abyss in the basement with Bakura, Kaiba, and Mokuba. Meanwhile, I'd like Joey, Tristan, and Tea to call the police and then guard the outside entrance."  
  
"You got it, Yugi!" Joey grinned. "We won't let you down, pal."  
  
Yugi smiled. "I know." He paused. "Let's crack this case once and for all!"  
****  
"Yugi, how do you propose getting down into the mausoleum?" Bakura asked as they headed into the basement.  
  
"With this." Yugi held up a grappling hook. "I'll go down first and make sure it's safe." He securely fastened the hook in a niche just above them and threw the rope down into empty space.  
  
"Be careful, Yugi," Bakura said.  
  
"Yeah, you don't want to get locked in a coffin like Wheeler did," Seto added with a smirk.  
  
Yugi chuckled. "Don't worry, that's the last thing I plan to do."  
  
With that he disappeared into the darkness, while Bakura, Seto, and Mokuba shined flashlights down the hole for him.  
  
"Do you think this is going to work, big brother?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"I don't know, Mokuba," Seto replied. "We can hope so."  
  
"Yugi, are you okay down there?" Bakura called.  
  
"I'm fine," Yugi called back after a brief silence. "I'm down in the mausoleum now, and I'm going to send the rope back up. Try to catch it."  
  
Soon the rope's end flew up and was promptly snatched by Seto. "You go next, Bakura," he directed, handing the rope to the silver-haired boy.  
  
"Alright," Bakura agreed, looking a little nervous.  
  
Before long, he was safely in the tomb, and then it was Seto's turn. He took hold of the rope with one hand, and grabbed Mokuba securely with the other. "Hold on tight, Mokuba," he said seriously.  
  
Mokuba grinned. "This is going to be fun," he replied.  
  
Soon the Kaiba brothers were in the crypt as well, and they looked around the creepy room in distaste. "Where could anyone hide treasure in here?" Bakura wondered.  
  
"Where indeed." Yugi laid a hand on a nearby coffin.  
  
"Gross!" Mokuba recoiled in disgust. "You mean it might be in there?!"  
  
Yugi nodded. "Where else could one conceal something in a tomb?"  
  
"But who are these people?" Bakura wondered. "They couldn't be Flemmings, because they didn't own the manor until after LeBlanc died. And LeBlanc didn't have any known relatives."  
  
"What if they were here since before LeBlanc built the house?" Yugi suggested to them. "The Salt Lake Valley and the surrounding area was settled initially in 1847, approximately twenty years before LeBlanc moved in."  
  
Seto nodded in agreement. "Perhaps this was a private family mausoleum that was buried, and LeBlanc uncovered it during the construction of his estate," he said.  
  
"Exactly what I was thinking," Yugi said with a smile. Taking a crowbar from off the floor, he tried to lift the lid of the nearest casket, without much success. "Hmmm . . . this is secured more tightly than I would have imagined for something of its old age," he remarked.  
  
Without warning, the lid suddenly popped open, revealing something none of them was expecting.  
  
"Oh my. Look at all those jewels," Bakura gasped.  
  
"Where did they all come from?" Mokuba's blue-gray eyes were wide as saucers.  
  
"Who cares?" a familiar, cold voice purred. "Just as long as they're here. I'll take those, now, if you please." Karen—or was it DeeDee?—had appeared noiselessly from the other entrance, her eyes greedily fixed on the gems.  
  
"They're not yours to take," Yugi replied.  
  
"Fiddlesticks!" The woman advanced, reaching out to caress an emerald. "My sister may have tried to cheat me out of the treasure, but I'm getting the last laugh!"  
  
"Think again, sister."  
  
Everyone looked up to see an identical woman doing a clever somersault into the mausoleum from up above, landing on her feet on top of a closed coffin. "This treasure is mine! After everything I've gone through to get it, you can bet I'm not leaving without it!"  
  
"What *you've* gone through! I was nearly killed because of it!" the first woman fumed.  
  
"You must be DeeDee," Bakura deduced. "I'm sorry that you're mixed up in this. I thought you were our friend."  
  
"Yeah, well, friendships go only so deep," DeeDee replied with a shrug. "Just for the record, tho, I was never involved with any of the plans to try to kill you guys. I would never kill someone to get what I wanted, which is more than I can say for my sister."  
  
"You're such a wimp," Karen said scornfully.  
  
"No, I have something that you have no concept of—compassion!" DeeDee replied sternly.  
  
Karen shrugged. "Whatever. Now I'll just take those gems," she growled.  
  
"Yugi, look out! She has a crowbar!" Seto yelled. Yugi ducked just in time, and the crowbar banged harmlessly against the coffin.  
  
"That stupid von Bruno walked in on me the last time I tried to investigate in here," Karen hissed, "but Marc totally scared him out of his wits with those threats . . . especially when he demonstrated how he could bend a crowbar in half with his bare hands." She smirked.  
  
"So von Bruno's innocent?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Yes," Karen admitted. "The fool's been spending most of his time hiding from us," she laughed. "We tried to frame him by planting the Spectre's jacket in von Bruno's closet." She sneered. "But then you had to barge in," she growled at Seto. "So I hit you with that silly cat statue, which was conveniently sitting right by the door."  
  
Seto's eyes narrowed. "You're the one who hit me? Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"You'll pay for doing that to my brother!" Mokuba yelled angrily.  
  
"Fool. Do you think I'm intimidated by a little shrimp like you?" Karen laughed. "But enough talk. I want my treasure, and I'll stop at nothing to get it!"  
  
In the ensuing battle, coffins flew open and skeletons flew out as Karen, DeeDee, and the boys tumbled across the floor, each trying to get the upper hand.  
  
"No respect for the dead," Seto remarked as Karen threw a skeleton at him, which he promptly ducked to avoid.  
  
"What do I care about some old things like this?" Karen shot back.  
  
"They used to be living, breathing people just like us," Yugi replied.  
  
Karen only grunted, overturning another coffin to trip him and Bakura. When she turned around, she found Mokuba flying right at her, fearlessly attempting a tackle. With a sneer, the wicked woman grabbed the boy, hitting him sharply with her hand and throwing him into the nearest coffin. With an evil laugh, she slammed the lid down.  
  
"Mokuba!" Seto screamed. "You're a witch," he growled at Karen, trying to unlock the casket. "How do you sleep nights?!"  
  
Karen laughed diabolically. "By counting the money that will soon be mine," she replied.  
  
"You're sick," Seto declared.  
  
Karen pulled out a gun. "This nonsense has gone on far enough."  
  
"You're right about that," Yugi said sternly, and his Millennium Puzzle started to glow.  
  
"What's going on?" Karen shrieked, shielding her eyes.  
  
Bakura's Millennium Ring started to glow as well. "Change of plan," Yami Bakura smirked, looking up.  
  
At that moment, Joey, Tristan, and Tea burst in, with the police in tow.  
  
"Game over," Joey grinned. "We would've been here sooner, but we were tanglin' with another of Karen's goons out on the lawn."  
  
"I'm glad you're all safe," Yugi smiled, then turned worriedly to watch Seto, who had finally managed to pry the lid of the coffin up.   
  
The young businessman peered into the box, looking uneasy about what he might find. "Mokuba, are you alright?"  
  
Mokuba leaped into his brother's arms. "Big brother!" He looked a little pale and weak, but otherwise seemed okay.  
  
Yugi sighed in relief. "It's over. We all made it out of this alive." 


	20. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
"Hey, Yugi, what do you think your gramps will say when we tell him what we've been doing on our vacation?" Joey asked mischievously the next morning as they relaxed in the den with Lisa, the Cobbs family, and Carl and Betty, while outside a blizzard raged.  
  
Yugi laughed. "He'll probably say that adventure and danger follow us everywhere, even when we don't expect it to."  
  
"You were all so brave," Lisa smiled.  
  
"Hey, Lisa, one thing I'm still kinda curious about," Joey said, "why was your earring in the crawlspace? Did you really loose it in the snow?"  
  
Lisa laughed. "No, I didn't. I was actually chasing one of the criminals through the crawlspace and I must have lost my earring somewhere along the way. Since I couldn't reveal at that point that I'm a detective and not a reporter, I made up the snow story."  
  
"I expected as much," Joey nodded, smiling. "So, what say we do some serious skiing today?"  
  
"I'd love to, Joey," Lisa smiled too.  
  
"I think the rest of us will stay here today and rest," Yugi laughed. "I've had enough adventure for a while."  
  
"Me too," Tea agreed.  
  
Joey turned to Seto. "So, Kaiba, I'm curious—what are you planning to do about that business deal with von Bruno?"  
  
Seto smiled wryly. "I don't know yet. I might give him another chance. But then again he might forget to come to the meeting."  
  
Everyone had to chuckle at that.  
  
"If he does, I know one thing—I won't go up to his room looking for him," Seto added with a crooked smile.  
  
"I don't blame you," Yugi laughed.  
  
Suddenly a crash came from the direction of the kitchen and everyone jumped a mile high. "What was that?" Tea gasped.  
  
That's when they heard a badly slurred voice start to sing, "Love me tender, love me true . . ."  
  
Bakura slapped a hand over his forehead. "Oh dear. That's my yami!"  
  
"Your yami?" Seto, who had been recovering from the knock on the head the first time this had happened, raised an eyebrow in confusion.  
  
"I'm afraid so. He must've accidentally got drunk on hard apple cider again," Bakura sighed.  
  
"Oh my," Betty said, shaking her head. "That's what was in that unmarked bottle on the table? Hard apple cider? Carl, when are you ever going to get rid of that junk?"  
  
Tristan shook his head. "What a strange week. Drunk yamis, crazed villains, underground mausoleums, poison darts . . ."  
  
"It's a miracle we all made it out of that alive," Tea remarked.  
  
Yugi nodded in agreement and turned to Carl. "So, what are you planning to do with LeBlanc's treasure, Carl?" he asked curiously.  
  
Carl smiled. "Betty and I have talked it over, and we're going to donate it to a museum."  
  
"A wise decision," Yugi nodded.  
  
"We're also having both entrances to the mausoleum sealed," Betty added. "I can't believe we've lived here all these years and never even knew that that horrible thing was under our house."  
  
"Pretty creepy," Joey agreed.  
  
"Well, now the dead can finally rest in peace," Tea smiled.  
  
"And we can just plain rest," Joey grinned.  
  
From the kitchen came a horrible rendition of Heartbreak Hotel.  
  
Joey sighed. "Then again, maybe not."  
  
Everyone laughed.  
  
That's when Owen Bridges entered, looking unusually happy. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make."  
  
"Oh really?" Joey perked up. "Are you gonna apologize for ousting us away from your room that time when we were in the crawlspace?" he teased.  
  
Bridges ignored him as a familiar woman stepped into the room.  
  
"Peggy Flemming!" Tea exclaimed.  
  
She smiled and nodded. "And soon to be Peggy Bridges!"  
  
Bridges took her hand tenderly. "We'd like to invite you all to our wedding."  
  
"We'd love to come!" Yugi smiled.  
  
"What a special ending to this mystery," Tea sighed happily.  
  
"Big brother, is she the lady he was writing those love letters to?" Mokuba asked in a undertone.  
  
"I'm sure she was," Seto replied, ruefully wishing that Mokuba hadn't remembered about those love letters. "But I hope you won't go getting any ideas, Mokuba," he added seriously.  
  
Mokuba made a face. "You mean like kissing girls or something? Gross! Why would I want to do that?!"  
  
Everyone had to laugh. "I'm glad you don't," Seto said, ruffling his brother's hair.  
  
Yugi smiled. ~Well, we did it, Yami,~ he said, relieved that everything was over.  
  
**Yes, we did,** Yami Yugi replied, and Yugi knew the ancient pharoah was smiling too. **We all did.**  
  
  
  
Note: Wow, I can't believe I've actually finished this! I hope you've all enjoyed reading it, and that you'll stay tuned for my next Yu-Gi-Oh! fics, which will be Halloween-themed! ^^ Many, many thanx to everyone who reviewed!!! :) It really does mean a lot! ^_^ 


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